Although Sri Lanka has a free health service policy it is not provided satisfactorily in all the hospitals in the country. The rural hospitals are often neglected and are poorly equipped with both material and human resources.
The Katugastota-Aluthgama rural hospital is one such place. According to the villagers the hospital does not have a qualified nurse and it is the minor staff at the hospital that has to perform the tasks of the nurse when patients come for treatment.
A group of students who participated in a workshop on how to use the Right to Information (RTI) law which was conducted by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), decided to use the RTI law to help the villagers of the area.
They sent an application to the Health Ministry inquiring why the hospital does not have a qualified nurse.
According to the response, the Ministry of Health had not been informed of a staff member shortage and since a trained nurse could not be assigned to a rural hospital measures would be taken to appoint public health officials to the hospital.
A few weeks later, the hospital was provided with a trained health worker and it was a great victory and relief for the villagers. RTI helped bring attention to their problem and they were able to taste the power of RTI.
The villagers have also signed a letter which was sent to the Health Minister recently bringing to notice other lacking facilities at the hospital.
The villagers have flocked around the youth and are already on the lookout for issues that could be sorted with the help of RTI.