Colombo/Chennai: With Sri Lanka facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948 and is facing food shortages, soaring prices and power cuts, protests against the government have intensified.
As anti-government protests continued throughout Sri Lanka demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation, a group of 42 MPs has sought the resignation of his elder brother and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. In a meeting with President Rajapaksa, they handed over a proposal to pull Sri Lanka out of the economic crisis.
The government blames the pandemic, which all but killed off Sri Lanka’s tourist trade – one of the island’s biggest foreign currency earners. It also says tourists were frightened off by a series of deadly bomb attacks on churches three years ago. However, critics say economic mismanagement is to blame.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s neonatologists have made a desperate call for urgent medical supplies to treat and save newborns needing emergency care, amid a severe shortage of essentials gripping the country that is battling an unprecedented economic crisis.
Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis could lead to far more deaths than the Covid-19 pandemic, doctors warned on Sunday as they are nearly out of life-saving medicines.
The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) said that all hospitals in the country no longer had access to imported medical tools and vital drugs. Several facilities have already suspended routine surgeries since last month because they were dangerously low on anaesthetics, but the SLMA said that even emergency procedures may not be possible very soon.
In the meantime, as many as 19 Sri Lankan Tamils from Jaffna and Mannar reached Dhanushkodi in Tamilnadu on boat. The total has hit 39. These people, seeking refuge in India, said that living in Sri Lanka has become very difficult due to the severe economic crisis. The prices of essential commodities there have increased tremendously.