Whilst thanking medical workers for tirelessly working during the most trying times in modern history and focusing praise towards doctors and medical staff in the North and East of the country, Ahila Ilankai Thamil Congress (AITC) MP Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that the Jaffna Teaching Hospital is ill equipped in regards to the population and staff ratio and facilities. He made this statement while speaking in Parliament a short while ago today (30). "The Jaffna Teaching hospital is the most important hospital in the entire northern province. When it is categorized as such, it is imperative that the shortcomings must be addressed. The Hospital is plagued by various shortcomings. Since 2013, the hospital has not had a maternity ward as it was in a dilapidated condition. Ever since, no steps have been taken to build a maternity ward, and the hospital is still running on a temporary arrangement. Due to this, over 50% of expectant mothers are treated as floor patients," said Ponnambalam. He went on to say that being a disastrous situation, the Minister of Health should look into the matter with urgency. While speaking, Ponnambalam raised the concern of the shortage of nurses and minor staff at the Jaffna Hospital. "Nurses are of paramount importance. At the Jaffna hospital, there was an approved cadre of 657 nurses, whereas at the moment there are only 573 nurses. From these, 50 nurses are on leave at any given time, and 78 nurses are pending transfers. A cadre assessment has not been done recently, and these figures are based on very old assessments. The hospital has made a request for at least 134 appointments to be made immediately, but to no avail. If the population to nurses ratio is assessed, there should be well over 1200 nurses," stated Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam then requested Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella to consider increasing the number of nurses by at least another 300 persons. "In regards to doctors, at the moment the approved cadre is 300 medical officers and 72 consultants , whereas there are only 175 medical officers and 63 consultants. I request the Health Minister to look into this matter as well," said Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam went on to say that the most remarkable thing about the people of the North-East is that they do not demand for things, and that people of the region are quite considerate of the circumstances faced due to the current situation. "There are 117 provincial hospitals in the northern region, some of which do not even have a doctor. Out of the 117 hospitals, only 41 hospitals have a cadre approval for nurses. 76 hospitals do not have a cadre approval for nursing staff at all," claimed Ponnambalam. In response to the claims made by Ponnambalam, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukewella said that the aforementioned shortcomings would be looked at and attended to.