The Central Province Health Department is facing great inconvenience due to a shortage of 276 doctors and 281 nurses at the three district hospitals in Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, Central Province Governor Lalith U. Gamage said.
He disclosed this during a visit to the Dambulla Base Hospital for an inspection tour of construction work on its Emergency Treatment Unit.
He said granting of appointments and transfers of doctors and nurses to these hospitals was held up as it had to be done according to the recommendations of the GMOA.
Conducting doctor appointments and transfers according to the recommendation of doctors’ unions due to the lack of a proper health policy had become a big problem today, he said.
There are a large number of medical graduates who have obtained foreign degrees and are undergoing internship here who can be assigned to hospitals as shadow doctors, but that could not be done due to the objections of doctors’ unions.
As a result, proper medical treatment could not be offered to the people in the Central Province. The Governor said he is endeavouring to transform the Dambulla Hospital into a fully equipped hospital soon.
Former Provincial Council member Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon who was present on the occasion requested the Governor to take necessary steps for the Central Government to take over the Dambulla Base Hospital, since it is not properly administered by provincial authorities. Dambulla UC Chairman Jaliya Opatha was also present on the occasion.
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