Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told The Island that the hospitals in the recently liberated areas of the Eastern Province were in urgent need of complete rehabilitation and infrastructure development because neither the Government nor NGOs were able to rehabilitate them due to the war. It was a laudable gesture of the US Government which had come forward to assist improve the healthcare services in the province.

He said that the internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Province were in dire need of primary healthcare facilities which they lacked during the LTTE’s control and the Government on the instruction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa would prioritise provision of better healthcare services to Eastern and Northern Provinces shortly. All hospitals in these two provinces would be rehabilitated and refurbished with required infrastructure facilities.

Minister de Silva added that the Health Ministry had formulated a strategy to improve the conditions of the hospitals. Beds for in-patients, required number of doctors and nurse, paramedics, laboratory services and medical equipment would be provided in due course. The USAID would rehabilitate and reconstruct the hospitals and co-operate with hospital directors supervising the reconstruction work and infrastructure development.