The Presidents of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), Medical Professional Colleges and Associations (working in collaboration as SLMA Medical Intercollegiate Committee (SMIC) have written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urging him to address the acute shortage of essential medicines, reagents, equipment and consumables in government hospitals and the private healthcare sector.

Decisions have already been made to curtail some services such as routine surgical operations and even limit the usage of available material to life-threatening illnesses, the medical professionals have pointed out.

“This is not at all a sound policy becauuse what is considered non-emergency situations could turn into life-threatening problems within a few hours. In addition, this is not a sustainable policy and unless urgent replenishment of supplies is made, within a matter of weeks, if not days, emergency treatment will also not be possible. This will result in a catastrophic number of deaths, which is likely to be in excess of the combined death toll of COVID, tsunami and the civil war.”

The medical professionals have pointed out that health encompasses physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing of people. Therefore, they are greatly concerned about the shortages of food and essential paraphernalia for people to provide themselves with basic needs, such as nutrition, transport and electricity.

“We are also concerned gravely about the need to preserve fundamental rights and guarantee basic freedoms such as right to information as these encompass important aspects of mental and social wellbeing of a population,” they said.

Given below are excerpts of the letter: “We have identified how we, as a group of professionals, could extend our help to the authorities to overcome the crisis, and list them below.

1. We accept that the current crisis has no immediate solutions and are willing to extend our expertise, guidance and advice to you at this moment.

2. We have initiated discussions with our members on preservation of the existing stocks of medicines and consumables to last for as long as possible (which may be only a very short-term solution) by prudent use. We do appreciate that even patients having non-emergency and non-urgent illnesses require optimal care and withholding their treatment will pose medical and ethical problems for the doctors of the country.

3. We pledge to regularly meet and discuss with the ministers holding health related portfolios as well as your good self and provide guidance and advice to provide the most equitable distribution of severely restricted medical supplies.

In addition, we request your kind cooperation on the following aspects.

1. We urge you to discuss with ministers holding relevant portfolios, public officials such as Secretary to Treasury, Secretary Health and Governor of the Central Bank about securing funding to fulfill the basic needs of the hospitals and the National Immunisation Programme of the country. This is an urgent priority.

2. Whilst accepting the immediate crisis, we wish to know from you and relevant officials’ details of your plans to meet the exigencies related to health and wellbeing of the population. We request a clearly laid out road map with time frames to be provided at the earliest possible time. We can then in turn do our duty in reassuring the medical community as well as the general public that solutions to the pressing health and wellbeing issues are forthcoming.

We do accept that these are difficult times for you as well as all the citizens of the country. The need of the hour is to be truthful, compassionate and for you to use the country’s intellectual resources in the form of expert advice and guidance from professionals.

We in the medical profession stand firmly committed to doing everything possible to preserve the health and wellbeing of the people of Sri Lanka in this crisis. We do believe that you share our ideals and sentiments expressed regarding the health of the nation and its people.

Please be kind enough to grant us an urgent appointment to meet your Excellency with top officials of the Ministry of Health to discuss and develop a contingency plan. We will provide our fullest support to mitigate the crisis. We wish to thank you, in advance, for your most kind consideration of the contents of this communication.”