He said carrying out the same set of blood tests repeatedly when obtaining medical treatment from different doctors can be avoided with the development of ICT in the health sector.

"We are also in the process of connecting 3,500 state institutions establishing a network. We will also implement the concept 'Distributing one million tabs among people'. We will distribute them for a very nominal fee. Funds will be allocated from this budget to develop digital infrastructure," Fernando said addressing the inauguration ceremony of EHealth Asia 2015 in Colombo yesterday.

Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella said there is a 400 percent increase in allocations to be made for the education sector from the 2016 budget while there is a 75 percent increase in the allocations for the higher education sector from the 2016 budget.

He said within a year, more freedom will be granted to state universities to function independently.

Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said the ministry has set up a National eHealth Steering Committee supported by WHO.

"Under the guidance of this committee, we have established National eHealth Guidelines and standards have been drafted. A unique and specialised workforce has been established to manage health information management," he said.

Prof. Sandeep Sahay from Oslo University and Asia eHealth Information Network President Dr. Alvin Marcello also spoke.