SJB requests friendly countries for 300-bed mobile hospital

Thursday, 29 April 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says need for additional ICU facilities must be met
Warns SL in “red light” zone, wants fast pandemic response from Govt.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in a discussion with diplomats has made a pre-emptive request to provide Sri Lanka with a mobile field hospital with 300 intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne

MP Eran Wickramaratne yesterday told the media that the capacity of the State Health Sector logistical services to handle the surge of COVID-19 positive patients is in danger of imminent collapse.

He said Sri Lanka has only around 700 ICU beds and many international agencies and friendly countries do have the field hospitals with ICU facility which can be set up in a matter of hours. The International agencies such as UNICEF and the IOM have these facilities; therefore, the Opposition decided to make this pre-emptive request for a mobile hospital for the sake of the people of the country devoid of political gain.

Wickramaratne said that he had called upon the Government a month ago in Parliament to import more stocks of the COVID-19 vaccine, but they did not heed the request to procure vaccines needed for 15 million people. He alleged that the Government’s actions to face the COVID-19 pandemic were too slow.

“We have a huge problem on our hands due to rapid spread of COVID-19. The vaccination process would cost the State about Rs. 15 billion. It is not rocket science, but the whole world is asking to be vaccinated. We are facing another crisis, which is a new variant of this virus and nobody knows how it may affect the people. The number of positive cases are escalating daily and the actual could be more than the official number. Sri Lanka is on the red light zone on this issue now,” Wickramaratne opined.

“On behalf of the citizens of Sri Lanka, we wish to make a pre-emptive request to the international agencies and friendly governments to provide a 300-bed field hospital with ICU facilities to overcome our current healthcare needs for COVID-19 patients,” the SJB MP added.