A village hospital in the Anuradhapura district is at risk of closing because no doctor has been assigned to it, residents told Hiru News.
The Gambirigaswewa Primary Medical Care Unit has been without a medical officer since the only doctor attached to the facility, a woman, left about a month ago. Residents say a single female employee is now the only staff member working there.
A functioning building with nobody to run it
The complaint is not about facilities. The unit is equipped with two wards and quarters for a medical officer, according to residents — infrastructure that is standing idle for want of an appointment.
Thousands of people across Gambirigaswewa, Palugollawa, Aluthgama and surrounding villages rely on the unit for primary care.
A 28km trip past elephant country
With the unit effectively closed, patients must travel roughly 28 kilometres to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital for treatment.
Residents said that journey is particularly dangerous after dark because of the wild elephant threat along the route — a routine hazard in the district, where human-elephant conflict makes night travel on rural roads risky.
They have asked the authorities to appoint a doctor to the unit and to restore clinic services.
Primary Medical Care Units sit at the base of Sri Lanka’s public health structure and are intended to keep routine treatment close to villages and reduce the load on larger hospitals. Staffing gaps at that level push demand up to teaching hospitals that are already the referral point for a whole district.
Source: Hiru News.
