May 22, Colombo: The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal made by Minister of Health, Nutrition end Indigenous Medicine Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi to increase the retirement age for government Medical Officers from 60 years to 61 years.

Co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardena at the media briefing on cabinet decisions said there is a dearth of doctors in the country and as such the retirement age of doctors had been raised in order to obtain the services of the existing doctors for a longer period in order to make up for the shortage of doctors.

He said the President has instructed to appoint a committee to determine the retirement age for all the technical fields upon the requirement of the service in addition to the Medical Officers service.

The Cabinet has also approved a proposal made by Minister of Health to improve the scope in the construction of cardiovascular surgery unit of Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital Colombo.

It was also decided to implement a public and private sector joint project to provide residential facilities to the staff of hospitals islandwide. The Prime Minister, considering the current situation, proposed to build special ward complex in all the hospitals in the country for fever patients.

Further Rs. 1.8 billion will be allocated for the development of the Eastern Colombo Base Hospital, Mulleriyawa Base Hospital, upgrading of the Out Patients Department, Infant care ward and the ICU.