More paying wards in hospitals explored

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella is exploring possibilities of starting more paying wards in state-owned hospitals to sustain the free health service to the most needy people while catering to increasing demand of quality in health services.

Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis has forced the island nation government to look into all the possibilities to cut costs across all the sectors while the country’s free health and education services are facing threats of cost cutting and reduced services.Already many state hospitals are facing scarcity of medicines despite donations and grants from many international organizations.

“I am trying to see whether I can get 30 percent of paying wards back again,” Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told EconomyNext.