Iran Press/ Asia: The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) said on Sunday that the country's hospitals no longer have access to imported vital drugs and medical tools, which obliged several facilities to stop routine surgeries since the month of March, especially due to the lack of anesthetics. The SLMA added that even emergency surgeries may stop very soon.
"We are made to make very difficult choices. We have to decide who gets treatment and who will not," the association said Sunday after it released a letter that was earlier sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to warn him of the situation.
"If supplies are not restored within days, the casualties will be far worse than from the pandemic," the SLMA added.
Business leaders joined the protesters on Saturday and called for the president to step down.
Sri Lanka has been suffering its worst downturn since the island's independence in 1948. Weeks of power blackouts and critical shortages of food, pharmaceuticals, and fuel have brought the people to the streets.
Men and women flocked to Colombo's seafront promenade and surrounded the Presidential Secretariat, waving the national lion flag and chanting "go home Gota."
Others held cards that read "enough is enough" and "it's time for you to leave."
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's government is seeking an IMF bailout to help free Sri Lanka from the crisis, and finance ministry officials said sovereign bond-holders may have to take a haircut as the island seeks to restructure its debt.
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