Former Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council C.V. K. Sivagnanam on Saturday wrote to the Governor of the Province P.M.S. Charles requesting her to prevent the government from taking over four main hospitals under the Northern Provincial Council.
The government is planning to take over Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Hospitals to upgrade them as national hospitals. District base hospitals of Matale, Nawalapitiya, Embilipitiya, Avissawella, Gampaha, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu districts will be taken under the purview of the Ministry of Health.
Sivagnanam insists that this will cause many inconveniences to the public. “Most of the decisions we have taken as regards these hospitals will be changed if the line ministry takes them over. When the government takes over these hospitals, people will no longer feel that these are their hospitals. People will have to approach the government to address any issues.”
The former Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council added that even Minister Douglas Devananda had opposed the move. The entire Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was opposed to it, he said.
“While we are demanding more power to the Northern Provincial Council, the government is trying to take the hospitals away from us,” he said.