Sri Lanka’s health sector is considered to be favorable in comparison to other countries with similar health investment profiles and socio-economic levels. The government is still maintaining its standard as leading health care provider. However the health sector currently is facing a number of challenges in providing free health services to cater to the growing demand. Public hospitals have reportedly become over- crowded and vulnerable to corruption. According to a survey done by Transparency International Sri Lanka (2001) the health sector was rated as the second most corrupted sector in Sri Lanka. Another study has found that more than 90 percent of users of health services in Sri Lanka make informal payments when accessing services. To provide insight into the forms and magnitude of these problems, TISL has commissioned a study on bribery, fraud and nepotism in government hospitals in Colombo district to a renowned sociologist of the University of Colombo.
The study covers 200 households in Colombo District, located in all three sectors (Urban, Rural and Estate), and covering Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups and various economic levels of care receivers. Data were collected during the period of October to November 2008.
Preliminary findings suggest that respondents and/or their family members frequently give money, gift or santhosam in order to get the required service from the hospital, either to get preferential treatment of as a token of appreciation for the service that they received.
A research report will be published shortly.