Drugs running out, surgeries cancelled as Sri Lanka's health system buckles

Sri Lanka’s healthcare system is close to collapse, under the weight of the island nation’s worst economic crisis. As well as shortages of vital drugs, some procedures and tests have been suspended.
 

The lack of foreign exchange has left President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government unable to import essentials including medicines and fuel, causing severe power cuts and bringing thousands of protesters on to the streets demanding his ouster.
 

An internal memo from a major state-run hospital in Colombo said that only emergency, casualty and malignancy surgeries would be conducted from April 7 onwards because of a lack of surgical supplies.
 

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