Hospitals out of drugs, surgeries nixed, Sri Lanka's once-lauded health sector is in crisis

Colombo: Faced with chronic shortages of medical equipment, antibiotics, and anaesthetics, doctors at major hospitals, especially state-run ones, across Sri Lanka have been forced to stop performing non-emergency surgeries, ThePrint has learnt. This is just one aspect of the devastating effect that the country's ongoing economic crisis has had on the health sector, which was once lauded for providing better medical care than its neighbours in South Asia. Funds are so low, doctors at state hospitals say that even providing meals for inpatients has become a challenge. Further, given that Sri Lanka imports about 86 per cent of its pharmaceutical…