The High Commission of the Republic of Seychelles issued a statement on the recently disputed incident of admitting a group of Seychelles national to Sri Lanka for urgent medical treatment.

The High Commission stated that 35 citizens of Seychelles - 24 of whom require urgent medical care, of which 11 critical patients are being accompanied by their relatives -were admitted into Sri Lanka on May 23, before promptly being directed to a hotel in Waskaduwa to be quarantined under the monitoring of the Sri Lanka Army and the Ministry of Health.

According to the statement, PCR tests carried out on all 35 passengers by both countries have produced negative results for COVID-19.

On completion of the mandatory quarantine period set by the Sri Lankan government the Seychelles nationals will be admitted to the Hemas Hospitals in Thalawathugoda and Wattala to continue their treatment and procedures, read the statement.

The High Commission also noted that Seychelles had only reported 11 cases of coronavirus infections in total, the last infection being identified on May 06. Further, no deaths have been recorded which gives the country a clean COVID-19 bill.

Stating that Sri Lanka had been a preferred destination for medical tourism among the Seychelles nationals the High Commission states that this travel is testament to the trust and credibility on the health system of Sri Lanka.

“This also highlights the confidence Seychelles has on Sri Lanka as a safe destination to send their non COVID patients for treatment even during a pandemic”, read the statement.

Full statement issued by the High Commission:

“On behalf of the Government of Seychelles, we wish to place on record our gratitude to the Government of Sri Lanka, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, for enabling the visit of a group of 35 citizens of Seychelles, 24 of whom require urgent medical care, of which 11 critical patients are being accompanied by their relatives, for coronary angiography and angioplasty, tetralogy fallout corrective surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, retinal detachment repair and many other high end surgery and interventions.

The group arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday, 23rd May, on a special Air Seychelles flight.  This turnaround flight took back 14 Seychelles nationals who found themselves stranded in Sri Lanka due to the current situation and then onto Chennai to evacuate more Seychellois.

The patients have fulfilled all precautionary measures including the PCR Tests in Seychelles and were cleared for foreign travel. On arrival, they were transferred to a hotel in Wadduwa for paid quarantine and were under the watchful eyes of Sri Lanka Army and Ministry of Health, thereby complying fully with the quarantine protocol of the Government of Sri Lanka. The HEMAS Hospital medical team was present at the quarantine center to receive the patients, assess their health condition and to decide on the care plan while in quarantine. The HEMAS Laboratory team extracted the PCR samples from all 35 citizens of Seychelles and was sent for immediate testing. All tests were negative.

On completion of the quarantine period and clearance obtained after a second round of PCR testing for Covid 19, they will be admitted to Hemas Hospitals in Thalawathugoda and Wattala to continue their treatment and procedures.

The Seychelles side further wishes to state that there has been no active Covid -19 cases in Seychelles since 07th May 2020 after the last of 11 positive patients was discharged from its qrantined centre. It is also to be noted that Seychelles is testing for seven gene targets with RSPCR, making the test accurate in terms of specificity and sensitivity. Seychelles implemented very strict measures to contain and control the spread of the virus and its international airport is only to be reopened on 1st June 2020.  The last case (11th) was detected on 6th April and no deaths have been recorded which gives the country a clean COVID-19 bill.

Sri Lanka has been a preferred destination for medical tourism among the Seychelles nationals over last few years and we wish to thank Hemas Hospitals for their untiring effort in facilitating the visit of this group of patients and wish to state that this travel is testament to the trust and credibility on the health system of Sri Lanka. This also highlights the confidence Seychelles has on Sri Lanka as a safe destination to send their non COVID patients for treatment even during a pandemic. We salute the armed forces and the medical teams in Sri Lanka led by His Excellency President Gotabhaya Rajapakse for managing the pandemic very well that has given us the confidence to select Sri Lanka for medical treatment for foreign patients needing urgent critical care.

This is yet another milestone in promoting the long standing bilateral relationship between the two nations.”