Foreign schols priority to doctors in difficult stations

A doctor at Vahalkara Hospital travels to hospital in a lorry carrying cement:

Nadira Gunatilleke

COLOMBO: Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has taken an immediate decision to give priority to doctors serving in most difficult areas with dedication when granting foreign scholarships received through international agencies.

This will be implemented from today, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry sources said. The sources said according to this decision, priority will be given to doctors serving in most difficult areas when granting foreign scholarships sponsored by the WHO, GFATM, UNICEF and other international organisations.

Ten most difficult hospitals will be selected from each district to implement this rule. The doctors who serve with dedication in those selected hospitals will be given priority when offering foreign scholarships, the sources added.

Pointing out the importance of implementing this new strategy, de Silva stated a doctor serving at Vahalkara Hospital in Padaviya travels to the hospital in a lorry carrying cement every day while he also does not have telephone facilities.

This doctor goes to the hospital early morning each day, cleans the hospital, examines patients and gives medicine to them, he had stated.