The Health Ministry will make it compulsory for all patients seeking medical treatment at state hospitals to produce their medical reports issued by the Healthy Life Centres (HLC), Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said.
“It will be similar to the requirement for pregnant mothers to produce their clinic documents on hospital admission for child birth,” the minister said.
Minister Senaratne said at present there are 842 Healthy Life Centres countrywide for men and women and another 946 Suwanari centres for women. These centres offer several free medical tests. They are blood tests for NCDs, blood pressure monitoring, BMI calculation, some cancer screening tests etc.
“The reports taken from these centres help doctors to diagnose diseases quickly and easily without much trouble saving a lot of time and resources. The patient’s history is also there for reference. It makes treatment more accurate and relevant,” he said. “Sixteen essential types of drugs for major Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are now available at all 842 Life Style Centres set up countrywide. Sri Lanka is the only country in the region which has this type of programme,” he added.