Nearly 5,000 patients are currently on the waiting list for heart surgery at the Colombo National Hospital (CNH) , with some expected to wait up to four years for their procedures, according to the Chairman of the Doctors’ Trade Union Alliance for Medical and Civil Rights, Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa.
He said the figures were obtained through a Right to Information (RTI) request. The waiting lists in five heart surgery wards include 600, 756, 2,400, 400 and 761 patients respectively, pushing surgery dates as far as four years into the future.
Dr. Sanjeewa warned that most patients come from low-income families and cannot afford treatment at private hospitals, where heart surgery costs at least Rs. 2 million. He said the risk of patients dying before receiving surgery in the public sector is “very high”.
He also criticised the national budget for failing to provide special support from the President’s Fund for heart patients and urged authorities to intervene immediately.
The government has proposed constructing a 16-storey heart surgery facility at the Colombo National Hospital, but Dr. Sanjeewa said the allocation of Rs. 200 million is far from adequate to complete such a project.
He added that thousands more patients are awaiting heart surgery in hospitals in Kandy, Karapitiya, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura, and called on the government to take urgent steps to reduce the backlog and save lives.
