25 April 2018 09:13 pm
The spokesman told Daily Mirror that this request had been made through the Sri Lanka Navy where medical personnel attached to the Navy of some other countries including America, Australia and Japan had sought the approval to hold clinics in the North-Eastern Province for two weeks.
“The Navy is making requests from time to time to hold such clinics. Similar incident has happened last year, where a group of foreign doctors requested to hold clinics in Hambantota, and the SLMC had rejected to register them,” he said.
He said the SLMC had not registered them last year because the request had not been directed to them through the Director General of Health Services and added that this year the requests had been made in the proper way.
He said the registration of this medical team was rejected due to lack of details, however, the SLMC had allowed this team to participate as observers and only the local doctors would conduct medication.
He said the clinics are scheduled to hold from April 25 to May 9.
Meanwhile, the Navy said this medical team had arrived in Sri Lanka by the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) as U.S and partner nation service members participated in the Pacific Partnership 2018 in Trincomalee.
“The mission in Trincomalee will continue till May 8 and will feature Pacific Partnership doctors and medical personnel working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals to exchange best practices,” it said.
It said the mission included military and civilian personnel from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan.
However, it also said the Navy had earlier conducted medical camps jointly with medical teams of other countries including United States and India. (Kalathma Jayawardhane and Darshana Sanjeewa)