Advisory Council to strengthen health service

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has decided to appoint an Advisory Council to advise him on various subjects in the health sector, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman Minister Sirisena will appoint the council within next few days. Professionals and specialists in the health sector will be included in this Advisory Council. The council will meet once in three months, and they will prepare the agenda one month prior to the meeting.

The main objective of appointing this Advisory Council is strengthening the free health service and establishing a more systematic, effective and qualitative free health service in the country. The council will advise Health Minister on all subjects in the health sector and improve mutual understanding among health staff, he said.

Minister Sirisena decided to appoint this council after considering the past issues that affected the health sector. Sri Lanka's free health service was affected in different ways in the past. Foreign objects were discovered from injection vials while two school girls died after being given a Rubella vaccine. The number of deaths caused by dengue fever also went up at an alarming rate while shortages of drugs reported time to time from some State hospitals, he added.