Nearly 5,000 patients are currently on the waiting list for heart surgery at Colombo National Hospital, with some potentially facing a wait of up to four years, Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, Chairman of the Doctors’ Trade Union Alliance for Medical and Civil Rights, said.
He noted that this information was obtained through data under the Right to Information Act (RTI). The hospital’s five heart surgery wards have 600, 756, 2,400, 400, and 761 patients on their waiting lists, with surgery dates extending up to four years.
Dr. Sanjeewa warned that many of these patients come from low-income families and cannot afford private hospitals, where a heart surgery can cost at least Rs. 2 million. “The risk of patients dying before their surgery in the public sector is very high,” he said.
He criticized this year’s budget for failing to provide special support from the President’s Fund for these patients and urged the government to take immediate action to assist those in urgent need of heart surgery.
While the government has proposed constructing a 16-story heart surgery facility at Colombo National Hospital, Dr. Sanjeewa said the allocation of only Rs. 200 million for the project is insufficient.
