The Ministry of Health has clarified that while Sri Lanka continues to face a significant shortage of medical consultants, the country’s cadre of medical officers remains saturated, even as Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa recently urged Sri Lankan doctors abroad to return and resume service.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Ministry of Health Deputy Director General of Medical Services II Dr. Arjuna Thilakarathne explained that the shortage lay primarily in the consultant cadre, rather than among general medical officers.

“In the consultants’ sector, we have a big shortage. The approved cadre for consultants is around 2,800, but we only have about 2,000 medical consultants. However, the out-migration is, I think, over. People are now starting to come back.”

Dr. Thilakarathne noted that in contrast, the medical officers’ sector, referring to general practitioners appointed to hospitals and medical institutions, was currently filled to capacity.

“However, that doesn’t mean we don’t need more doctors. To improve the quality of services, we are working to get approval to recruit more.”

His comments come in the wake of Minister Jayatissa’s public appeal inviting doctors who had migrated to return and be reinstated in their former posts. 

In a statement during his official visit to the UK, Jayatissa addressed Sri Lankan specialist doctors living abroad and made a special request for medical specialists who had left to consider returning to Sri Lanka. He had expressly admitted to a shortage of specialist doctors.

Dr. Thilakarathne, however, clarified that while returning doctors would strengthen the system overall, the immediate shortages were concentrated in specific specialities rather than in general practice.

“We are mainly lacking in certain areas. Although we have a good number of physicians, surgeons, and gynaecologists, some remote areas and newly established base hospitals do not have sufficient consultants,” he explained. 

“We expect to fill those vacancies within about a year, as most consultants who have gone abroad for foreign training are expected to return.”

He identified anaesthesiology, accident and emergency, neonatology, and plastic surgery as the key specialities experiencing ongoing shortfalls.

When asked whether any of the medical professionals currently abroad had indicated their intention to return, he said that while many doctors left with an agreement to return after foreign training, not all followed through.