Kumudesh tells govt: Country failed to reap at least 20 percent of benefits from lockdown

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Sri Lanka had not been able to reap at least 20% of the benefits of lockdown, President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science, Ravi Kumudesh told The Island yesterday.

Kumudesh said that the purpose of a lockdown had been lost as garment factories had remained open without its workers being tested. The lab technologists and other health sector unions had come forth to help the government to test all garment factory workers and issue results within days, he said.

“The government has so far not responded. It has also ignored our calls for providing hospitals with portable PCR testing machines and increasing testing to 100,000 a day.”

Kumudesh said that as the number of tests had been reduced by the Ministry of Health, the country was in the dark about the actual spread of the virus.

“Initially, the government imposed the lockdown for 10 days, from August 20 to 30. That period ended yesterday. The Health Ministry must tell us what we have achieved in the last 10 days. Have we made any progress? Did the Ministry have an objective or benchmark? I think we have the right to know,” he said.