COLOMBO -Sri Lanka’s state hospital system is facing a shortage of specialists, a top official said as doctors leave the country in the wake of the worst currency crisis in the history of the island’s flexible exchange rate central bank.
” We have a shortage of specialists in the country, because they are leaving the country,” Director General of Health Asela Gunawardena told reporters Monday (12).
“We hope to assign specialist doctors who are coming back from foreign training. But it will take some time and we will see some sort of a shortage within that time period.”
Within the first eight months of 2022, 477 doctors including 125 consultants have left the country, according to spokesmen for the Government Medical Officers Association.
The currency crisis and the resulting forex shortages also disrupted the flow of imported drugs for the health system, which is experiencing rolling shortages of drugs.
“We still have a shortage of 100-120 medicines,” Gunawardena said, but added that new orders have been placed and going forward the authorities will be able to minimize the shortage”.
-economynext.com
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