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Road accidents exact multi-billion price from Sri Lanka
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
The rising number of road traffic accidents causes misery for families and has a long-lasting impact on victims but also adds to the healthcare costs of Sri Lanka.
Road traffic accidents have been identified as the main cause of injuries, according to the Health Ministry.
One fourth of the estimated 10,000 deaths from injuries are caused by road traffic accidents.
Road accident victim Supun Sandaruwan
Health Ministry Secretary Dr Anil Jasinghe told the Sunday Times that more than 50% of patients admitted to the Accident Service intensive care unit at National Hospital Colombo are road traffic accident patients.
Road traffic accident injuries are avoidable if measures are taken to reduce accidents.
According to him, a developing country spends 1% to 1.5% of the GDP on road traffic injuries.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Hansaka Wijemuni told the Sunday Times that the cost of road crash fatalities and injuries reported to state hospitals in 2021 was around US$3 billion, or about 3% of the GDP.
Dr Jasinghe, who was once a director general of the National Hospital, recalled how the accident service ward was known by the name of a popular motorbike brand in the 80s, which was responsible for many accidents.
“Traffic accidents cause multi-system injuries, where the patient has multiple injuries in different organs. Among those multiple injuries, there are both major and minor injuries. Doctors are forced to address all those complications,’’ he said.
He said pedestrians are the most vulnerable as they are unprotected, while secondly, cyclists and motorcyclists are susceptible to accidents. Three-wheeler accidents also remain high.
Road accident injuries can change life forever.
A resident of Puttalam, Nawaratna Mudiyanselage Supun Sandaruwan, 32, the victim of a motorbike accident, has been at Colombo National Hospital for seven months. The accident happened on June 30 last year.
He was an excavator operator and was a breadwinner for a family of three children and his wife. He has a broken leg and has gone through five surgeries.
“My family’s economy crashed. My family is merely surviving off the income of my mother, who works at a private factory,” he said.
Mr Sandaruwan said he had one home-cooked meal a week, and that was on Sunday when his family visited him, and for the remainder, it was hospital food.
National Hospital's accident service ward: A majority of the patients are road accident victims
He was one of three injured in the same accident. He and his friend, as well as the motorcyclist who collided head-on with his motorbike, suffered serious leg injuries.
Mr Sanadaruwan claimed that the motorcyclist who crashed into him was under the influence of liquor.
Often accidents destroy lifelong dreams of young people.
Among them is Chamodh Bandara, 19, from Akuressa, who is in ward 57 of the Colombo National Hospital. He had undergone five surgeries and a skin graft on his leg.
He was run over by a lorry at Meegoda last month. He recalled the incident on December 19, 2025.
“I went to a boutique to buy groceries for my mother. I got on the bike to return home, and a lorry came towards me. It ran over me.’’
He said the lorry driver was under the influence of liquor.
He worries about his family, as his widowed mother and sister, who studies at university, do not have a proper income. With the hope of going overseas for a job, he had been working at a bakery and a gas company to save money, and that is now spent for his sister and mother.
Dr Wijemuni said that a multifactorial and multisectoral effort is needed to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic accidents, as the ministry plays a main role in advocacy, health promotion, and post-crash management.
Apart from that, he said that Sri Lanka’s commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3.6) include halving global deaths/injuries from road traffic accidents and taking initiatives on helmet use, enforcement, and awareness campaigns that have been adopted to varying degrees.
He said the National Injury Policy 2016 will be reviewed. Apart from that, the available Multi-Sectoral Strategic Action Plan for Injury Prevention and Management 2023 to 2027 will be implemented.
Despite various efforts taken by the government, police and other institutions, the accident rate has been increasing.
Last year, the road traffic death toll increased to 2,838 from 2,521 in 2024.
| Injuries cause long-term disabilitiesThe Health Ministry said that more than 10,000 Sri Lankans die as a result of injuries, while traffic accidents cause one-fourth to one-third of deaths, followed by falls, drowning, poisoning, suicides, snake bites, animal attacks, and electrocution. Deputy Health Minister Dr Hansaka Wijemuni said that injuries are the main reason for hospital admission in Sri Lanka, while transport-related injuries contribute to most deaths. According to him, more than one million are admitted for treatment only at state hospitals annually. Statistics from 2024 revealed that there were more than 1.35 million admissions to state hospitals, and one out of six admissions was due to injuries. “Other than admissions, many are treated as outpatients, in the private sector, by non-western medicine practitioners, while a huge number of patients themselves treat their injuries without seeking health care services. So, all casualties who need medical care following injuries could be estimated to be two to three million,” he explained.
According to the National Injury Surveillance System (NISS), higher numbers of hospital admissions are due to “falls” from different causes (around 27% of total admissions). Dr Wijemuni said state hospitals bear the highest burden due to animal bites. More than 50% of injuries occur in and around home environments, he said, adding that about 25% are due to injuries on the road or streets. While other common places for injuries are educational institutions and workplaces, though the numbers are not as high as home- and road-related accidents. NISS statistics reveal that a huge number of patients are left with permanent or temporary disabilities. It is estimated that about 50,000 to 100,000 annually suffer lifelong disabilities. Dr Wijemuni said injuries are the number one cause of health problems among economically productive age groups of 15 to 44 years, a colossal burden on the economy as well as productivity and development. He said that taking care of accident victims, including ones who need long-term treatment, imposes a substantial strain on health ministry budgets, as hospital care for serious injuries and long-term rehabilitation absorbs a large share of resources. “A burden amplified by the high number of serious injuries annually,’’ he said. Long-term treatment costs for trauma, such as surgeries and rehabilitation, extend beyond acute care and have become a recurrent cost to the health system. A huge amount of the annual budget is spent on patient care due to injuries. Many of these costs are “hidden” or not fully quantified. Many injuries result in disabilities needing long-term care, including physiotherapy, repeated medical visits, prosthetic support, and chronic pain management. While Sri Lankan cost data are limited, international models show that rehabilitation and long-term follow-up considerably increase total healthcare expenditure beyond immediate acute care. Dr Wijemuni said the Health Ministry faces implications such as a high volume of injury patients causing a structural demand on hospital budgets, including greater spending on trauma and surgical care, allocation of beds and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) resources to injury patients, ongoing investment in rehabilitation services, as well as potential diversion of resources from other health priorities due to high injury patient load. | |
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