Surgery by flashlight, not enough drugs: Sri Lankan doctors make life-death decisions as economic crisis deepens
- Who lives, who dies? That’s the hideous triage question medical professionals are now facing as essential medicines begin to run out
- They’ve been urging govt to make contingency plans, call healthcare emergency, amid major protests and mass resignation of cabinet ministers
The debt-laden country has been struggling to pay for imports, including medical supplies, due to a shortage of foreign exchange, and even financial support from India and China has failed to alleviate the situation.
The International Monetary Fund has warned the government’s total foreign debt of US$35 billion is “unsustainable” and ratings agencies have warned of a potential default.
Dr Minoli de Silva, a medical officer working in the emergency department of a teaching hospital in the country’s Western Province, said she was now having to choose which patients to treat.
“In my hospital, only 10 more vials of an essential drug used for treating heart attacks and strokes are left,” Dr de Silva said this week.
“So now we have to look at factors like age and prognosis and decide which patient has a better chance of surviving after taking the drug before starting treatments. If there are two patients, we may have to choose to treat one of them,” she said.