Staff at Mankulam hospital protest over severe shortage of medicines 

Sri Lanka is expected to receive $10 million from the World Bank to secure essential medicines in an attempt to avoid worsening the current medical crisis. 

The dire state of the economy has left Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports including life-saving medicines and medical equipment. Routine power cuts have also left healthcare workers unable to effectively treat patients, with doctors warning that the death toll from the current medical crisis could exceed the death toll of the coronavirus pandemic. 

“It is not enough, but still a big amount considering the situation,” Finance Minister Ali Sabry reportedly said in regards to the $10million. 

Earlier this week, healthcare workers at Mankulam hospital staged the protest demanding the Sri Lankan government to not "play with people's lives" and address the worsening shortage of life-saving medicines. 

The economic crisis initiated by policies before COVID-19, such as pre-pandemic tax cuts, was exacerbated by the crippling of the island’s tourism sector following the pandemic, inflation, and reduction in foreign exchange reserves.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka announced that the government would no longer be able to pay its international debt obligations, effectively defaulting on US$51 billion of foreign debt. The Finance Ministry stated that it was seeking assistance from the international Monetary Fund (IMF) to formulate a "comprehensive plan for restoring Sri Lanka's external public debt to a fully sustainable position." 

In a recent report, the World Bank said Sri Lanka's "economic outlook is highly uncertain due to the fiscal and external imbalances." 

"Urgent policy measures are needed to address the high levels of debt and debt service, reduce the fiscal deficit, restore external stability, and mitigate the adverse impacts on the poor and vulnerable," it added. 

Sri Lanka is due to start talks with the IMF next week to discuss a loan programme.