The curtailment of funds for the health sector had resulted in a severe brain drain of doctors, acting Opposition Leader John Amaratunga told Parliament on Wednesday.
Making a special statement, Amaratunga said the government hospitals were without facilities to carry out even medical tests. That situation had caused dozens of private laboratories and pharmacies supplying those services and medicines to mushroom around government hospitals. Full text of the statement:
According to the newspaper articles on 07.04.2014, it is none other than the Minister of Health who had stated that there is a severe brain drain in the health sector and that some 50-60 doctors and nurses migrate to other countries every week and that this has a very disastrous impact on the running of public sector health services in the country. The Minister had also stated that very often the women are not attracted to the nursing service. Although there should be one nurse to every 05 patients in the country according to the Public Service United Nurses Union, a study of the present ratio reveals that for 55 patients there is only one nurse. As such, it is evident that the number of nurses in service today is even less than 1/10th of the required number.
As is obvious from the present situation of these services, the main reason behind the vacation of post and going abroad of the doctors and nurses and the non-attraction of outsiders to these services is the absence of proper salary, recognition and privileges in them. In addition, the institutional administrative shortcomings have also caused problems in the health sector. Clashes and disputes have also occurred due to the failure on the part of the Government to identify the functions of each profession in the field. For example, with the decision taken to give the nurses the labour room training which is a duty assigned to Midwives, disputes have arisen between those two professions as well as among Midwives, Nurses and Doctors also with a threat of them resorting to trade union action. The repeated assertions of the Government that it will ensure provision of a free health service to the nation have been limited only to words.
While the doctors in the Government hospitals today have fallen to the level of checking the patients and giving prescriptions, the patients are required to buy all the required medicine from the pharmacies outside. While there are no sufficient facilities in many hospitals even to carry out medical tests, very often the patients are compelled to wait for very long periods in the waiting lists for their medical tests owing to the absence or dearth of testing equipment, or the delays in repairing the unserviceable medical equipment. This situation has caused dozens of private laboratories and pharmacies supplying those services and medicines to mushroom around Government hospitals. The deplorable situation here is that the helpless patients of this country turn out to be the ultimate victims of all these problems relating to the health sector. Very often the poor patients coming from the families making a bare living with much difficulty encounter a grave threat to their lives as a result of the dearth of doctors, nurses, medicine and treatment in government hospitals.
Therefore, will the Minister of Health enlighten this House of the measures intended to be taken by the Government to solve the above stated problems in the health sector and protect the free health service? Further, since the main reason behind all these problems is the sheer inadequacy of provisions allocated from the budget for the health sector, will the necessary steps be taken to solve the above problems by allocating adequate funds to this sector through a supplementary allocation in addition to the provisions made in the budget? Deputy Minister of Health Lalith Dissanayake said the government would respond to those queries on Thursday.
