Letters of appointment were handed to 350 newly recruited health attendants in the Northern Province on Friday, under the patronage of Minister of Health and Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, NewsFirst reported.
The Ministry of Health said the appointments cover attendants recruited under two separate employers — the Line Ministry and the Northern Provincial Council — for hospitals and healthcare institutions across the province.
Where they are going
The breakdown the Ministry gave accounts for the full total:
- 45 Line Ministry recruits attached to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital
- 5 Line Ministry recruits attached to the Jaffna Nursing Training School
- 300 Provincial Council recruits attached to other hospitals and health institutions across the Northern Province
That places 50 of the 350 in two Jaffna institutions under central recruitment, with the remaining 300 distributed provincially. The Ministry did not name the institutions receiving the larger provincial allocation, or say how the 300 are divided among the province’s five districts.
Quarters handed over at Tellippalai
A new four-storey Medical Officers’ Quarters complex at Tellippalai Base Hospital in Jaffna was also handed over to medical staff on Friday under the Minister’s leadership.
The facility was built at a cost of Rs. 196.6 million and can accommodate around 20 medical officers — about Rs. 9.8 million per officer housed.
Context
The Jaffna Teaching Hospital has featured in health-sector coverage this year for reasons other than staffing, including a fire in a ward store in May and the treatment of 385 people for eye injuries after Jaffna temple festival lighting in August.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not say whether the recruitment addresses an identified staffing shortfall in the province, what the previous attendant headcount was, or how many vacancies remain. It gives no salary scale, no indication of whether the posts are permanent or contract, and no breakdown of the 300 provincial appointments by district or institution. It also does not say when the Tellippalai quarters were commissioned or how long construction took.
No other verified newsroom had filed on the appointments at the time of writing.
