• Claims proper plan needed to utilise allocated funds
• Patients, rural hospitals facing difficulties: Dr. Sanjeewa 

Medical activists have urged the Government to devise a plan for the proper utilisation of funds allocated for the health sector through the budget, noting that the health sector requires a considerable amount of funds to ensure proper services.

Speaking to the media, Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association (MCPA) President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa said that only around one-third of the funds allocated for the health sector had been used so far. 

He urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to take this situation into account, and allocate the remaining funds through a proper plan to address essential and urgent health needs instead of transferring the remaining funds to the next budget.

“If not, patients obtaining treatment from the health sector, from rural hospitals to national ones, will have to face huge difficulties,” he opined, adding that patients were already facing various hardships, including having to spend large amounts of money to purchase medicines from the private sector.

The Minister of Health and the Ministry Secretary could not be reached for comment regarding the concerns raised by the MCPA.