SLMA seeks strict movement control

Having explained the ground reality to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a high-level group of medical specialists on Monday requested very stringent implementation of the Extraordinary Government Gazette notification on controlling COVID-19, with selected “lockdown processes” of certain areas such as districts and even provinces.

These lockdown processes should be based only on scientific evidence of the density of caseloads, together with restriction of inter- district and inter-provincial movement of people, the specialists from the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) and the SLMA Intercollegiate Committee have said.

“COVID deaths may reach unprecedented levels and a grave national catastrophe is a real potential threat in the near future, unless something that offers rapid results is implemented. Achieving rapid control would save many lives, ease the burden on hospitals, lay the background for vaccination and be economically beneficial in the longerterm,” they have said.

The specialists had also stressed that the facilities for non-COVID medical problems are also being curtailed through necessity and their management is getting neglected, leading to an unavoidable increase in the deaths of those patients.

The specialists were SLMA’s President Dr. Padma Gunaratne, Past President Prof. Jennifer Perera and Vice President Dr. Manilka Sumanatilleke; College of Internal Medicine President Dr. Harsha Sathischandra; College of Anaesthesiologists President Prof. Thamasi Makuloluwa; and Kalutara National Institute of Health Sciences, Consultant Community Physician (Planning), Dr Ruwan Ferdinando.

(Please see full statement on

our website sundaytimes.lk)