The Ministry of Health says work is under way to improve emergency treatment and primary care units at 82 base hospitals run by provincial councils and the central government, under a new project to be implemented with the Asian Development Bank.
The ministry disclosed the project on Saturday during a one-day training programme on emergency care services held at the auditorium of the Chilaw District General Hospital.
Standardising a service that varies by hospital
The training was aimed at strengthening emergency care by linking the emergency units of primary care centres with hospitals providing secondary and tertiary services. It covered around 180 medical and nursing staff working in emergency services at base hospitals, regional hospitals and primary care units across the Puttalam district in the North Western Province, including Chilaw District General Hospital itself.
Director General of Health Services Dr Asela Gunawardena joined the inaugural session.
Dr Gunawardena said problems and challenges currently arise because health institutions follow varying methods when delivering emergency care, and that members of the public have raised allegations and complaints about the service they receive.
The main objective of the initiative, he said, is to protect the lives of everyone arriving for treatment by implementing emergency care according to a single, standardised methodology across all health institutions in the country.
Context
The programme lands during a period of sustained pressure on the health service. Public Health Inspectors are in the middle of an escalating dispute with the ministry and are due to suspend all data reporting island-wide from Monday, while emergency departments have also been handling the caseload from a dengue season that has only recently begun to ease.
The ministry did not give a value for the Asian Development Bank project, a completion timeline, or a breakdown of which of the 82 hospitals are covered. At the time of writing no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the programme.
