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North facing severe doctor-nurse shortage

24 May 2021

By Pamodi Waravita    The health sector in the Northern Province is facing a shortage of about 240 doctors and 253 nurses amidst the rising Covid-19 infections in the country, health officials at the Northern Province local government level told The Morning yesterday (23). According to officials, the Northern Provincial government overlooks four district hospitals, 10 base hospitals, 45 divisional hospitals, and approximately 53 primary medical care units. The aforementioned shortages are reported in total for these healthcare service places. Meanwhile, officials also told us that two new PCR machines were requested from the Ministry of Health in the first week of May to fulfill the need of increasing the capacity of testing for the Covid-19 virus around the island. Presently, there are two PCR machines for the entire province. It is learnt that while the PCR machine at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital conducts approximately 1,000 tests per day, the PCR machine at the University of Jaffna only conducts around 300 tests per day. Meanwhile in parliament on 18 May, (ITAK) MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said that in the Eastern province, the PCR test results capacity is only 500 tests out of the 1,000 daily tests that are conducted in the province. However, Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi assured the House in response that the PCR testing facilities are being increased, as per a cabinet approval to provide the necessary financial funds for Covid-19 eradication. Raising concerns on a related issue to the media yesterday, Rasamanickam also alleged that in the PeriyaKallar hospital in Batticaloa, although a private contractor is paid Rs. 750 per person per day to give food to patients in the hospital, the quality of the food for all three meals amounts to less than Rs. 200. Rasamanickam further said that over 20 requests have been made to change the contractor. As of Saturday (22), the Jaffna district in the Northern Province recorded a total of 2130 Covid-19 cases. 


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