^{File photo: NHSL Protest  April 2022}

Cancer patients are struggling to receive treatment amidst Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis. 

Hospitals countrywide have struggled to contend with severe drug shortages, which have worsened over the last eight months, a representative of Sri Lanka's largest doctors union told Reuters.

"All hospitals are experiencing shortages. There is difficulty in even sourcing basics like paracetamol, vitamin C and saline for outpatient services," said Vasan Ratnasingam, a spokesperson for the Government Medical Officers' Association.

Specialist facilities like cancer and eye hospitals are running on donations, Ratnasingam said

Earlier this year The Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA), one of Sri Lanka's most powerful trade unions, declared a medical crisis as doctors and hospitals reported a widespread lack of medicine. 

Healthcare across the island has been impacted by the current economic crisis. However, healthcare across the North-east has been chronically underfunded and increasingly militarised. The war crimes accused military have been running health clinics and dental clinics and taking over hospitals across the region. Hospitals across the northeast have consistently received support from the Tamil Diaspora to help source vital equipment. Cancer treatment is also hard to access across the Northeast with many having to travel to the South to receive treatment. 

Battered by the loss of tourism and remittance earnings because of the pandemic, alongside an ill-timed tax cut, Sri Lanka slid into crisis in early 2022 after its foreign exchange reserves dried up, leaving it short of dollars to pay for fuel, food, cooking gas and medicines.

For months, the country of 22 million people faced hours-long power cuts and severe fuel shortages.

The economic hardship triggered protests, which in July ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after thousands took to the streets and occupied his official residence.

In September, the country entered a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.9 billion bailout but has to put its huge debt burden on a sustainable track before disbursement can begin.

Sathiyaraj Silaksana 27, has come to visit her five-year-old son S. Saksan suffering from leukemia, travelling 350 km with her husband to feed him.

"Due to the current crisis in Sri Lanka, we are facing severe problems in transport and food," said Silaksana, 27, who is pregnant with her second child.

“I have no option but to pay for my son's needs. My husband, is a construction worker. In order to pay for all these expenses we pawned our jewellery."

Rathis Supiksa aged 7 is also suffering from blood and bone cancer, 

"We never, ever faced a situation like this before. Even during the war period we ate well. but with the current situation in Sri Lanka, it is difficult to live." Said her father, Periyathambi Rathis, "I will definitely have to take out a loan from a loan shark to meet the child's expenses in the future." 

Read more at Reuters