Nearly 97 hospitals located across various parts of the island have been shut due to the shortage of doctors, the pro-Government Sinhala daily Lankadeepa said in a front page lead article quoting health ministry sources. Majority of the affected hospitals are located in the NorthEast while hospitals in Kandy, Hambantota and several other districts have also been affected with hospital closures due to the doctor shortage, the paper said.
“Even though a considerable number of medical students pass out as doctors annually, most of the new graduates are not assigned hospitals in the affected areas, and this practice has led to the current shortage,” the article said.
The paper also claimed that due to union pressure and other political interference, doctors who are assigned to these hospitals are usually transferred to more populated areas .
Meanwhile, Health minister Maithripala Sirisena has requested authorities to immediately assign relevant number of doctors to these 97 hospitals, from the group of doctors numbering to 247 who are scheduled to receive their appointments shortly.
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