• TV panels received under USAID grant to be utilised in State hospitals

The Health Ministry is set to launch telemedicine services by March 2026 with a grant received from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) fund a few years earlier. 

Responding to a query from The Daily Morning, Ministry Secretary, Dr. Anil Jasinghe said that TV screens were imported to Sri Lanka for the provision of telemedicine services on a grant given about three to four years ago. Explaining, he said, “The screens were obtained at the time without developing a platform to operationalise telemedicine.” Dr. Jasinghe further noted that currently, the Ministry was in the process of developing an alternative method to launch telemedicine services using the same TV panels they had received under the USAID programme. He added the Ministry hoped to launch the service in March when they would get to know about the operability of the panels.

Previously, the Medical and Civil Rights Association of Doctors, leveling allegations against the Ministry, claimed that over 230 TV screens imported for state hospitals across Sri Lanka under a USAID funded project were in jeopardy as the said project was yet to get off the ground.