Fifteen hospitals with advanced medical facilities are under construction, Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said, at the inauguration of a four-storey building for Padaviya Base Hospital recently.
The building was constructed with a soft interest loan of Rs. 480 million from the Chinese government.
The new building complex will include an emergency ward, two operating theatres, and a central laboratory.
The Minister was informed by the hospital management that a number of key positions including anesthetist and surgeon had fallen vacant recently.
Although the hospital had a cadre of 25 doctors, at present there were only 12.
The Health Minister said the hospital’s dialysis unit would be expanded as there were only 10 dialysis machines and the area was a CKD-prone one.
“We plan to establish new maternity and children hospitals on the model of Colombo Castle Street Hospital, in Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Galle and Kalutara,” he said.
There are 17,000 doctors in the state health service and 7,000 vacancies are required to be filled. A medical faculty opened recently affiliated to Sabaragamuwa University.
Plans are afoot to establish medical faculties under the Moratuwa and Wayaba Universities, with the Kuliyapitiya and Panadura Hospitals being promoted to teaching hospitals.
The present intake of 200 medical students to the Karapitiya Medical Faculty would be increased to 300, he said.
Nurses’ training schools in Anuradhapura, Kandy, Matara, Galle and Kalutara were being expanded at a cost of Rs. 3,000 million. A nursing faculty would be established affiliated to Sri Jayewardenepura University, the Minister said.
He said special attention was focused on the Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura districts where renal diseases have been spreading fast, by developing healthcare facilities at existing hospitals such as those in Padaviya, Kebithigollewa, Medawachchiya, and Medirigiriya.
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