He was addressing a ceremony held yesterday in Maharagama.  At this occasion the ‘Pilika Sarana’ calling service and the Indira Jayasuriya child hospitality service was also launched. The ‘Pilika Sarana’ calling service (011 – 23 63 211) is in operation for 12 hours a day.

According to WHO forecasts NCDs are a global issue. Nearly 70 percent of the patients admitted to hospitals die of NCDs.

The minister said that the limit of Rs.1.5 million allocated for a cancer patient was removed. Today for some patients they spend upto Rs. 10 million.

According to him, the only surgery that they could not perform, the bone marrow transplant was commenced recently at the Apeksha hospital in Maharagama. One such surgery costs Rs. 18 million. But, in Sri Lanka, this surgery is performed free of charge and expected to commence at the Kandy hospital in the future.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya also participated at this occasion.