GMOA: Hospitals overflowing with NCD patients

By Samarakoon Bandara

A large number of persons with Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) are not taking prescribed medicines due to economic difficulties, and thus hospitals are filling up due to complications, Dr. Palitha Rajapaksha, the assistant secretary of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) says.

There were about three million people, over 60 years, and they were the most affected by NCDs, Dr. Rajapaksha said, adding that Sri Lanka had very weak social safety nets and many were at the risk of being reduced to poverty.

Dr. Rajapaksha said that he was attached to the Provincial General Hospital, Badulla, and that all wards there were full of patients with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart conditions, etc.

“All wards are full. I don’t know what we would do if the number of dengue cases go up. I have been a doctor for many years, but I have never seen such a large number of patients with NCDs in hospitals,” he said.

Dr. Rajapaksha said a large number of patients could not come to clinics during the COVID pandemic and in the last few months due to fuel shortages.

“They could not be properly examined and treated because of this. Moreover, due to drug shortages in government hospitals, patients have to buy from private pharmacies. However, the price of drugs has skyrocketed and a lot of people can’t afford medicine. Now, we have lost control of NCDs,” he said.

The GMOA official said that the economic downturn is affecting the health sector and the lives of many people are in danger. “Most of the people who tell us that they can’t afford medicines are those who depend on children. Or they are pensioners. A person who makes 50,000 rupees a month can’t spend 20,000 on medicines. In government hospitals we do very little testing now. We can’t even do a simple cholesterol test. The people can’t afford to get these tests done in private institutions. We also have a shortage of inhalers,” he said. Dr. Rajapaksha said due to the current health crisis, a large number of elderly people might die. Already NCDs account for 75% of deaths, he said.

“Some people say COVID vaccine has weakened people’s natural immunity and exacerbated some diseases. I don’t think that’s the case. Not only are people not getting treated on time, people are under great stress because of the dire state of the economy. People don’t know how they will be able to eat or send their kids to school. Continuous mental stress is really bad for health,” he said.