The government has resumed work on 25 large-scale health-sector infrastructure projects that were started between 2014 and 2024 and subsequently halted, the Ministry of Health and Mass Media said on Sunday, with a combined Rs. 73 billion budget envelope earmarked across three fiscal years.
Rs. 16 billion was allocated under the 2025 budget for priority completions, Rs. 19 billion has been set aside for 2026 and a further Rs. 38 billion is planned for 2027, the Ministry said in a statement carried by Ada Derana. The programme is being implemented under the direction of Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, who has instructed authorities to expedite completion and bring the facilities into service as quickly as possible.
The selected projects span maternal and child health expansion, cancer treatment, cardiac and thalassaemia care, emergency units, staff housing and medical-waste management, the Ministry said.
Among the headline completions are the upgraded maternity and ward complex at the De Soysa Hospital for Women, a 2019 project worth Rs. 389 million, and the 12-storey “Punchi Hadawath” (Little Hearts) Unit at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children — a Rs. 6,218 million project commenced in 2017 and now in its final stage. The second phase of the National Cancer Treatment Unit at Kandy National Hospital, an eight-storey building begun in 2016, has also been completed, with Rs. 400 million allocated in the current budget for it.
Construction is ongoing at the 10-storey and six-storey cancer care buildings at Badulla Teaching Hospital, which have Rs. 1 billion earmarked for 2026. Projects nearing completion include the accident and emergency unit at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, the surgical unit at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, kidney care units in Batticaloa and Hambantota and the bone marrow transplant unit at Kandy National Hospital — a cluster carrying Rs. 1.75 billion in the 2026 budget. Emergency and outpatient units at Mullaitivu, Kegalle, Trincomalee, Ampara, Chilaw and Kandy hospitals draw on a separate Rs. 1.75 billion line.
The Health Ministry’s own main office building, initiated in 2014 and halted soon after, is also in its final stages with Rs. 3 billion allocated in the 2026 budget. A further Rs. 8.8 billion has been earmarked for the renovation and rehabilitation of hospital infrastructure nationwide.
Nursing education facilities at Ratnapura, Kalutara and Anuradhapura hospitals, alongside the Sri Jayewardenepura Nursing Faculty, are also progressing — complementing the Public Service Commission’s recent recruitment of 515 nursing graduates at Grade III. JICA is partnering on a separate programme to install 15 medical waste incinerators island-wide by the end of this year.
The package adds project-level texture to a recent burst of health-sector capital announcements, including the Rs. 31 billion base-hospitals upgrade Jayatissa unveiled in Wellawaya, the Rs. 20 billion Anuradhapura national hospital push, and the Rs. 600 million ESWL and DSA machines now operating at Kandy National Hospital.
