News
Specialists take their fuel woes to Health Ministry Secretary
By Rathindra Kuruwita
Many medical specialists were finding it difficult to report to work due to severe shortage of fuel, President of the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) Dr. LakKumar Fernando said yesterday.
He said AMS had sent a letter on the difficult issue to Health Ministry Secretary Dr. S.H. Munasinghe on Saturday.
“This is more so in the peripheries where certain cities have not had fuel in their localities for many days. This situation is likely to deteriorate in the coming days,” Dr. Fernando said.
It is not possible for doctors to enter gas stations with special permits when there are so many others in queues. People who have been waiting in queues for hours naturally get angry and tense when preferential treatment is given to anyone, Dr. Fernando said.
“Such situations can lead to public unrest creating further chaos. Along with the multitude of other essential services in our country, we feel that healthcare service providers should also be considered as a high priority regarding access to fuel during this crisis. Therefore, we strongly feel that the responsibility of devising a practical, plausible mechanism to facilitate our members to get a quota of fuel to travel to his/her workplace lies with the Ministry of health. Please consider that it will be a must to provide and ensure an uninterrupted healthcare service throughout the country,” Dr. Fernando said.
The AMS President informed the Health Ministry Secretary that until such a mechanism is established, AMS members will be compelled to inform their respective hospital directors about their inability to attend needy patients physically and to provide telephone or online advice/consultation when required purely due to lack of fuel to report to work.
“Even though this is highly unacceptable in any clinical setting, we don’t see any other practical alternative to this problem in the near future. Further, it is important to note that most of the hospitals in our country have not been able to provide onsite, official accommodation to all specialist medical officers and hence they are compelled to reside away from the hospital,” he said.
The AMS also asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Health to grant them an appointment to discuss this issue.
“This is not an attempt to ‘misuse’ our position but an effort to mitigate a crisis in order to save lives of patients as well as the good name of the national health care delivery system. Failure to address this issue on an urgent basis would compel us to discharge us from clinical responsibilities due to constraints beyond our control. Please treat this matter on an urgent basis,” he said.
The government, under heavy Opposition fire over inclusion of a sex website in the Grade 6 English module, as well as overall education reforms, has decided to put on hold reforms in respect of Grade 6.
Cabinet Spokesman and Media and Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa announced the government decision yesterday (13) at the post-Cabinet media briefing at the Information Department.
According to him, the decision had been taken at the previous day’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Dr. Jayatissa said that education reforms pertaining to Garde 6 had been put on hold until 2027.
The Minister said that other proposed education reforms would be implemented as planned. The Minister said that action would be taken against those responsible for the inclusion of a link to a sex website following investigations conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department and the National Education Institute.
The SJB and several other political parties, as well as civil society groups, have accused the government of promoting an LGBTQ agenda, through the proposed education reforms.
The Opposition grouping Mahajana Handa, on Monday, made representations to the Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatta Chapter regarding the controversial reforms, while urging their intervention to halt the project.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (13) vowed to go ahead with his government’s agenda, regardless of the destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Emphasising the responsibility on the part of all to contribute to the post-Ditwah recovery efforts, President Dissanayake said that he would have complete faith in the public service.
The President said so at the launch of the re-building Sri Lanka project at the BMICH yesterday.
The JVP and NPP leader said that he wouldn’t take advantage of the death and destruction caused by the cyclone or use the situation as an excuse to reverse their agenda or weaken it.
President Dissanayake said that in spite of many calling for amending the then Budget, in view of the cyclone, the government presented the proposals that were agreed before the disaster struck.
The United States has announced that it will provide the Sri Lanka Air Force with 10 US Navy TH-57 helicopters free of charge.
The announcement was made by outgoing US Ambassador Julie Chung, who stated, on social media, that the helicopters would be transferred under the United States’ Excess Defence Articles programme. The aircraft are Bell 206 Sea Ranger helicopters previously operated by the US Navy.
US sources said that the transfer was intended to strengthen Sri Lanka’s disaster response capabilities, following the devastating cyclone that struck the island at the end of 2025 and killed more than 600 people. US officials have framed the move as a humanitarian measure aimed at improving aerial rescue and relief operations.
Fair weather will prevail except for a few showers in the Uva, Eastern, Western and Central provinces and in Galle, Matara and Rathnapura districts
Trump cancels US-Iran meetings, urges protesters to take over institutions
Govt. bows to pressure, shelves Grade 6 reforms
AKD: Govt. agenda on track despite Ditwah disaster
SL to receive 10 helicopters from US
Foreign couple held over alleged biopiracy at Horton Plains
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