Sri Lanka’s public health system crippled by the economic crisis is calling out for help
By Shashika Bandara
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis caused by years of excessive borrowing and poor policies of the current administration has plunged the country into an unprecedented crisis. Sri Lankan Rupee has become the worst performing currency in the world, country faces an increasing scarcity of essentials such as milk powder and food items and power cuts as high as 16 hours a day. The public is continuously protesting calling for the resignations of the president, prime minister, and the administration highlighting the government’s mismanagement, apathy, and corruption. The government’s efforts to curb the protesting has been publicly condemned by the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.
Deepening public health crisis needs attention
As the situation worsens, the public health system has become the latest sector to face severe consequences of the crisis. State hospitals and health professionals for weeks now have warned of depleting medicine stocks and power cuts affecting the capacity to perform surgeries. In the absence of a rapid response to the medicine shortage crisis, individuals and the Sri Lankan diaspora have been scrambling to find ways to support the health sector. Last week Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) and the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) both called attention to the public health crisis and requested urgent support. SLMA stressed the acute shortages of essential medicines, reagents, equipment, and consumables in government hospitals and the private healthcare sector.
Sri Lankans protest against the government in Colombo and calls for the president’s resignation. Picture Credit: Marlon Ariyasinghe
SLMA in its five-point plan singles out the need for support from the international community and requests donations. GMOA also reiterates this call for support highlighting the urgency of the need. The government has now appointed an official coordinator to support the donation and other support coordination processes (for those looking to support, the contact information of government officials can be found in the information box at end of this article).
Official Statement from the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka on the current medicine shortage, with contact information of the point person
Time is running out for Sri Lanka on many fronts. The current crisis, with increasing shortages of medicines and other essentials, has a deep impact on maternal and child health, on social determinants of health and the threat of another wave of COVID-19 cannot be ruled out. The current medicine shortage has made day-to-day service provision of healthcare difficult for government and private hospitals. Thus, in the instance of increased demand for medicines - be it the pandemic, a natural disaster, or any other crisis - Sri Lanka is looking at severe consequences including loss of lives.
How can the global health community help?
The global health community including donor organizations, inter-governmental organizations, universities, global health institutions, other non-governmental organizations, and individuals can first bring attention to the current crisis through their platforms and partnerships. Second, support to provide essential medicines and supplies to maintain the functionality of the health sector in Sri Lanka via official channels will be crucial. This will help to avoid Sri Lanka’s current crisis from devolving into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Finally, there is a shortage of food and other essentials for the vulnerable in both urban and rural communities and other communities such as refugees in Sri Lanka. Supporting them will help the physical and mental health well-being of those communities.
Sri Lanka, given its relatively small size and the current competing political priorities of the world, may not make the headlines. However, the situation remains dire and the time to help is now.
How to support Sri Lanka
Support to provide essential medicines:
Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Contact: Dr. Anver Hamdani (Director of Medical Technology Services)
Complete Correspondence by the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka can be accessed here.
A comprehensive overview of avenues for donations and a dashboard that tracks the medicines needed in real time by https://www.watchdog.team/ : How to donate to the Sri Lankan medical crisis
GoFundMe Campaign for medicine supply with donations coordinated through the Ministry of Health (more details on the campaign page): https://www.gofundme.com/f/emergency-medcial-suppliessri-lanka-forex-crisis
Support for the vulnerable communities:
A compilation of ways to support vulnerable communities, including GoFundMe campaigns and other supporting methods can be found here: https://bit.ly/supportsrilanka2022
About the Author:
Shashika Bandara is the Editor-in-Chief of the McGill Global Health Perspectives. He is a Sri Lankan doctoral student focusing on health governance and global health policy at McGill University. His prior experiences include medical research, human rights policy advocacy, and humanitarian aid. He tweets at @shashikaLB.