Heads of Medical Colleges meet Health Minister

By Sandun A. Jayasekera   

Heads of Medical Colleges who met Health Minister Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi yesterday insisted that a strict control on health, law and order and administrative aspects were necessary to prevent the Covid-19 escalating in the country in pandemic proportions.  

They met Minister Wanniarachchi yesterday at her office to find ways and means on what actions were needed to prevent an epidemic of viral infection.   Prof. Indika Karunatilaka pointed out that the next two weeks of the Sinhala-Hindu New Year period would be extremely crucial as people would gather in numbers to purchase consumer goods and should be controlled with the law applying strictly.   The Minister agreed with this point and said she would speak to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa who oversee the campaign against the viral infection, and added that the police and armed forces would be deployed countrywide to maintain law and order and public gatherings.   

While following the health guidelines, people must also ensure that they maintain self quarantine and hygiene regularly to prevent infections.   

The government would launch a plan for the New Year period, to provide essential foods to the doorstep to all families, to prevent them from going to towns, Minister Wanniarachchi said.   “Only then would the government be in a position to relax curfew,” she stressed.