The Sri Lankan government plans to recruit 13,000 nurses between 2027 and 2029 to address staff shortages in the country’s healthcare system, Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr Nalinda Jayatissa announced.
Speaking at a ceremony held at Temple Trees on Sunday (1), the Minister said recruitment plans had been developed based on projected staffing requirements under the national health policy and strategic plan for 2025–2035.
He said the recruitment of 13,000 nursing personnel over the three-year period would be subject to approval from the Department of Management Services of the Ministry of Finance.
The announcement came as 2,819 newly trained nurses received appointment letters to join the government health service as Grade III nursing officers.
The ceremony was held under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The newly appointed nurses belong to the 2020 student nursing cohort and completed a three-year Higher Diploma programme at 16 nursing colleges across the country.
They entered nursing colleges in 2023 after sitting the GCE Advanced Level examination in the Science and Mathematics streams in 2019 and 2020.
The nurses will be deployed to hospitals and healthcare institutions administered by the central government and provincial councils.
Meanwhile, 76 Grade I nursing officers in the hospital service received promotion letters elevating them to the Special Grade.
Minister Jayatissa said the government had accelerated efforts to fill vacancies across the hospital network to improve the quality of healthcare services.
Deputy Minister of Health Dr Hansaka Wijemuni, Health Ministry Secretary Dr Anil Jasinghe and several senior ministry officials attended the event. (Newswire)
