A shocking revelation shows that more than eighty percent of Sri Lanka’s health budget was never spent, exposing a catastrophic failure in public health management and pushing the nation toward an unavoidable medical crisis.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, Chairman of the Doctors’ Trade Union Alliance for Civil Rights, revealed that the Ministry of Health has failed to use the majority of the funds allocated in the previous budget. The total allocation for 2025 amounted to Rs. 474,874,000,000, yet only a fraction of it has been utilized according to a Right to Information report dated 05.07.2025 and signed by Chief Financial Officer G. A. Karunaratne.
Of the more than Rs. 18 billion allocated for essential medicines, only about nineteen percent has been spent. Out of the Rs. 1300 crore reserved for purchasing medical equipment, only twelve percent has been used. The construction of new buildings shows similarly poor performance, with only ten percent of allocated funds utilized. Even more concerning, only five percent of the nearly Rs. 100 crore meant for maternal and child health has been spent so far.
The situation deteriorates further with the allocations for disease control. Only three percent of the funds targeted at managing communicable diseases have been used, and the same minimal percentage applies to non-communicable disease programs. The Asian Development Bank provided close to nine hundred million rupees to strengthen Sri Lanka’s health sector, but only eight percent has been utilized. Even more alarming, nearly Rs. 190 million received as a primary health care fund remains untouched.
The President recently summoned senior Health Ministry officials to question the worsening health crisis, where the mismanagement of budget allocations became a central topic of discussion. Dr. Sanjeewa stresses that this pattern proves Sri Lanka’s health system cannot progress with the current officials who have remained in power since before 2019. He warns that without decisive action from the President, the country will face a severe and unavoidable health crisis in the coming year.
