The Hon. (Dr.) Hansaka Wijemuni

¶ 01 On physical resources, we have two programmes. First, with World Bank support, we are upgrading district and below-district (rural/divisional) hospitals to cover village-level facilities, including those you mentioned; implementation will start within the next 2–3 months. Second, for base hospitals, an Asian Development Bank-supported programme is prepared to furnish necessary resources. We have analysed hospitals’ services, resources and patient loads to identify specializations and will develop each accordingly; implementation in the Central Province will commence in the coming months. Earlier World Bank rural upgrades left some gaps; we acknowledge this and will address them.

¶ 02 On recruitments: applications for post-intern medical officers close next Monday; within one to two weeks we will recruit and deploy them, aiming to place them in rural hospitals promptly. Recruitment for other cadres is also progressing. Unfortunately, due to a court interim order, there is a difficulty recruiting X-ray Technicians at present.