Govt. to take over Neville Fernando Hospital on Monday

Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne confirmed that the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital of Malabe would be taken over by the Government on Monday (17).

The Cabinet made the decision to convert the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital into a teaching hospital under the Government, and appoint an administrative board to oversee the hospital’s functions.

The hospital will reportedly treat patients free-of-charge, whilst simultaneously offering the option of paying wards as well.

Minister Senaratne stated that the nationalization of the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital would take place at 10.00 am on Monday (17), under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Meanwhile, reports reveal that a decision has not yet been made as to who should occupy the recently vacated presidential seat at the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

Addressing the recent Dengue epidemic prevalent across the island, Minister Senaratne declared the Cuban method of Dengue prevention unfit to tackle Sri Lanka’s Dengue epidemic, explaining that the Cuban method was not implementable under the multi-party political system in place in Sri Lanka.

He also added that the statistical analysis of the number of Dengue patients was being conducted methodically at present, and that even the World Health Organization (WHO) used the local statistics for their calculations.