A situation in which laboratory tests performed at government hospitals have been ceased has occurred, mainly due to the shortage of chemical compounds and equipment required for such tests to be performed, driving patients to resort to paid laboratory tests via private channelling, sources closer to the Health Sector divulged.
In the backdrop, private laboratories are reported to have been charging staggeringly high amounts of fees for such tests, unravelling a crisis worse than the medicine shortage itself, sources further disclosed.
These test reports are essential for medical diagnosis and the situation of government laboratories ceasing their operations and private laboratories charging higher amounts of fees has thrown patients of low income into an abyss of endless torment in their inability to present reports for diagnosis, medical officers told LNW.
Be the fact that the forex crisis in Sri Lanka contributing to the equipment shortage leading to the ceasing of operations at government laboratories true, but as to how the private laboratories possess them would be extremely problematic, they pointed out, adding that despite the limited amount of dollars received by the country, whether they are being spent on priority would also be problematic.
MIAP
