Sri Lankan medical staff, teachers protest fuel shortage
STORY: Left with just enough fuel for about a week and fresh shipments at least two weeks away, the government restricted supplies on Tuesday to essential services, such as trains, buses and the health sector, for two weeks.
However, doctors, nurses and other medical staff said that even though they are deemed essential workers, they struggled to find fuel to get to work.
"Healthcare workers have no way to report to work. Nowhere to get fuel. Almost all vehicles in the country are parked along roads near petrol stations. Patients don't have transport to come to hospital. Patients are dying while on the way to hospital," said Namal Jayasinghe, spokesperson for 'Health Service Collective'.
The island of 22 million has nearly run out of useable foreign exchange reserves to import essentials such as food, medicine, petrol and diesel. The government is looking abroad for help, to countries from the Middle East to Russia.
