Visiting the Doctor in Sri Lanka

It is a known fact that Sri Lanka is still a developing country. In fact, the country is still recovering from a civil war that had ravaged its villages since 1983.

The friction between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the separatist forces called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has caused many civilian deaths. And as if this wasn't enough, Sri Lanka also suffered a terrible tragedy with the fatal tsunami in 2004 killing about 30,000 people.

But in the face of all this, the country was able to provide one of the best health care systems on their side of Asia. For expatriates, affordable international health insurance in Sri Lanka is also widely available.

Sri Lanka is among the top five Asian countries when it comes to statistic improvements both in their health profile and their health care system.

The improvements in the Sri Lankan health care system were brought about largely by the introduction of Western medical practices. This was backed up by the government's initiative to ramp up the number of hospitals in Sri Lanka. The country now has 490 hospitals and 338 central dispensaries.

There are also about 3,000 doctors in Sri Lanka, which are generally competent and well-trained in Western medicine. There are about 8,600 nurses.

Traditional ayurveda medicine is also in practice in the country. This practice is also supported by the government as part of the country's health care system, and there are even operated health clinics specializing in this traditional branch of medicine.