Private hospitals too suffer from current crisis

By Thushara Athapattu

President of the Association of Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes (APHNH) Dr. Ananda Kuruppuarachchi said yesterday private hospitals were experiencing difficulties owing to the prevailing medicine shortages.

Dr Kuruppuarachchi said, “The situation has led to acute shortages of many registered medicines. The medicine distribution network that catered to the private hospitals has been hit hard and as a result sometimes we have to wait for days to obtain medicine needed for out-patients.”

“Several medicines are in short supply. Some of the most essential medicines are out of stock. We have not been informed when they will be available.

“Private hospitals are facing severe hardships because there is no medicine and some medicinal equipment due to the dollar crisis. The prices of various tests and services could increase in the near future though we have not made any such decision for price revisions. We are actually in a very difficult position; there is a shortage of medicines and equipment and their prices have increased. In a situation where our patients have been hit hard by an economic crisis, it is very difficult to make up our minds to increase the prices of services we provide. Then the only available option is to discontinue our services, which again would result in job losses.”

Dr. Kuruppuarachchi said that his association had written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently pointing out the problems the private hospital administrators were facing. “There is also a dearth of trained nurses. We need to initiate and expand training programmes and intensive care training courses for nurses in the private sector. The APHNH is ready to take the initiative to introduce training for private sector nurses,” he said.

To this end, APHNH is in the process of collaborating with the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) and other industry stakeholders to establish a Nurses’ Training Institute. Among several courses and internationally recogsed qualifications provided, the Association plans to cater to the need for intensive care training.