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| Sunday, 1 May 2005 |
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Shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons - GMOA by Chanuka Mannapperuma The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) urges the health authorities to take swift measures to resolve the acute shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons as at present there are only four such surgeons in the state run health service. The GMOA claims that there are only six cardiothoracic surgeons for Sri Lanka of which entire population is approximately 20 million. "Out of this six, two surgeons are serving in the private sector and as a result, the remaining four have to carry out a heavy work load." GMOA's General Secretary Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya told the Sunday Observer. Dr. Padeniya said, according to the worldwide accepted norm, there should be one cardiothoracic surgeon for 300,000 people. However, spokesman for the Health care and Nutrition Ministry said, the Ministry had paid due attention to this crucial issue. "There are new three cardiothoracic surgeons who were trained abroad and they will be appointed to the vacant posts in the health service." he added. The spokesman also noted that the Ministry has decided to implement a novel program to train specialists required for the country."Under this, priority will be paid to train doctors in the specialities bases on the requirements of the country and not what the doctors choose to follow," he added. Dr. Padeniya lamented that at present there are no cardiothoracic surgeon at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital (LRH) or even at the Kandy General Hospital. He commented that although there are newly built three cardiothoracic units in Kandy, the authorities have not taken steps to commence surgeries there. "Cardiothoracic services are critical for the people. A strong performance by the state sector in this speciality will obviously reduce the dependence on the expensive private treatment options and will save valuable foreign exchange," he said. "Therefore, we urge the Health authorities to take steps to advertise
remaining vacancies for cardiothoracic surgeons in the National Hospital,
Kandy and LRH." added Dr. Padeniya. |
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