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Among the social indicators that Sri Lanka is rightly proud of are achievements in education and health. In both these spheres, the provision by the State to provide free education and free health has greatly benefited the poorer sections of society. Free education has been a critical factor in helping the upward mobility of the poorer strata of society.

The country’s public health system played a significant role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, while the public health system does serve the needs of the poor and marginalised, one senses that much more has to be done to provide those who rely on the public system with the best possible health care.

There is no doubt the medical personnel who manage state hospitals, whether they be doctors, nurses, or others, are competent and by and large live up to the Hippocratic oath. Given the number of patients that the state hospitals are called upon to serve, the doctors and nurses are undoubtedly fully stretched, and therefore their capacity to provide the extra care necessary for the sick may be limited.

Already short of human resources to serve patients at the optimum level, the exodus of hundreds of doctors in the recent past has left patients languishing.

According to the Government Medical Officers Association, more than 1,700 medical personnel, a large portion of whom are doctors, have left Sri Lanka over the past two years alone. This is not counting those who migrated to greener pastures with the outbreak of the economic crisis in 2022.

The Government, for its part, seems to be doing very little to stem this exodus of medical personnel, though it knows such an exodus will weaken the public health system to no end, with the hardest hit being the poor and marginalised.

Even before the 2022 economic crisis engulfed the country, the state health system was badly in need of an increase in government investment to increase the staff strength required to upgrade the quality of the service as well as to improve the state hospital infrastructure.

With the Government’s current focus on the economy and its efforts to pull the country out of bankruptcy, there is hardly any conversation with regard to maintaining the state health system at the present level, let alone improving it.

Last week, the situation in the health sector came to the fore once again with the news that a large number of CT scan machines in state hospitals had become completely dysfunctional, leaving patients in dire straits.

According to the Government Radiological Technologists’ Association, there are 44 CT scan machines in state hospitals, of which seven are nonfunctional.

According to media reports, the CT scan machines in the OPDs of the National Hospital in Colombo, Karawanella Base Hospital, Embilipitiya District General Hospital, Ratnapura General Hospital, the cancer unit of Hambantota Hospital, Kalmunai Base Hospital, and Kalutara Hospital are not functioning.

The Technologists Association has pointed out that some of these machines have not been in operation for months, resulting in inconvenience to poor patients and doctors as well.

The fact that repairs to this vital equipment have not been attended to for months does not speak well of the authorities, who should be constantly monitoring the hospitals and ensuring that the necessary equipment is in place all the time.

The reason for this failure may be sheer indifference on the part of the administrators, and if so, it is unforgivable. Or it may simply be the lack of funds that casts an onus on the Government to allocate the necessary funds for this and other basic facilities that are required for hospitals.

According to some reports, the government expenditure on health is less than 2 percent of GDP. This is insufficient, according to health experts, and the allocation needs to be increased. While academics have been clamouring for a minimum allocation of 6 percent of GDP for education, a gradual increase in that direction for the health sector too has to be canvassed.

If adequate resources by way of an increase in the number of medical personnel and medical equipment are not provided by the Government, the laudable objectives of the public health system will not be served. At the present level of functioning, the margin of error in the treatment of patients is great. Since there are no health audits in state hospitals, the inadequacies in the system remain hidden and can escape the eyes of administrators and concerned citizens. The need of the hour is, therefore, to place the health sector high on the priority list, notwithstanding the demands of the economy. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)