For diseases related to alcohol:

Govt to charge patients

Action has been taken to charge a fee from patients seeking treatment from Government hospitals for diseases related to consumption of alcohol, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said.

He was addressing the opening ceremony of a Dispensary Complex of the Health Curative Department at Borella yesterday.

The decision taken by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena was to discourage alcoholism and minimize alcohol related disease. The Government has allocated a large sum of money for patients receiving treatments due to alcohol related diseases and smoking.

The Government has suspended free treatment to patients who have been admitted to State Hospitals for alcohol consumption begining this year. The Government was committed to ensure free health facilities as outlined in the Mahinda Chinthana, Minister said. Sri Lanka was the top rungs in terms providing free health care facilities to the people as against many countries in South Asia.