A press r1elease from Parliament said that the Sectoral Oversight Committee had decided to expedite the submission of the report to Parliament and the Health minister stating that the estate hospitals and health institutions will be taken over by the government in stages.“Until now the estate workers were not entitled to state healthcare, but they had been provided with health facilities through estate hospitals and health institutions run by the plantation authorities. This service was not provided by government doctors and only estate health assistants were employed,” the press release said.
A cabinet paper on the acquisition of 44 estate health institutions in the year of 2006 had been issued and as a result the recruitment of Estate Health Assistants had been paused. Due to this, there was a dearth of officers required to work in estate hospitals and health institutions. Therefore, a Cabinet paper was issued recently and a subcommittee was appointed to look into the acquisition of state health care for estate people by taking over the state health sector, the release said.The Sectoral Oversight Committee on Health and Human Welfare and Social Empowerment was convened yesterday chaired by Hon. Mylvaganam Thilakarajah, with the participation of Hon. Charles Nirmalanathan and many high officials of the Health Ministry, the press release said.