Street protests began a month ago and have intensified in recent days, with people openly defying the emergency and a weekend curfew to demand Rajapaksa’s withdrawal.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not step down, a minister has said, despite protests over his handling of the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Rajapaksa, who has ruled the country since 2019 along with other family members in high-level positions, lifted a state of emergency on Tuesday evening after five days as dozens of politicians left the ruling coalition, leaving his minority government.

Sri Lankans have suffered from shortages of fuel, electricity, food, medicine and other items for weeks, and doctors say the entire health system could collapse within weeks.

Street protests began a month ago and have intensified in recent days, with people openly defying the emergency and a weekend curfew to demand Rajapaksa’s overthrow.

“May I remind you that 6.9 million people voted for the president,” Highways Minister Johnston Fernando told parliament on Wednesday in response to criticism from the opposition and cries of “Go home Gota “.

“As a government, we make it clear that the president will not resign under any circumstances. We will deal with this.

After Fernando’s speech, nearly 200 doctors, some in blue coats, marched down a road near a national hospital in the commercial capital Colombo, chanting anti-government slogans.

Some held a banner saying, “Strengthen people’s right to live. Declare a health emergency.

Malaka Samararathna, who works at Apeksha Government Hospital for Cancer Patients, said not only the drugs but even the chemicals used in the tests were lacking.

“Patients who are on chemotherapy, we have to monitor them carefully on a daily basis,” Samararathna said.

“If we can’t do it, we can’t decide which way to go. We cannot decide on good management. Sometimes our chemotherapy drugs cause serious side effects, so the only way we have to find it is to do these investigations.

Vasan Ratnasingam, spokesman for the Association of Government Physicians which represents more than 16,000 doctors nationwide, said at least one life-saving drug was not available at all at his Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital.

“Apart from that, 102 essential drugs are missing. Some of these drugs are used frequently, such as for respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections,” he said, warning that doctors should stop routine treatments and surgeries if immediate action was not taken. not taken.

Also on Wednesday, the speaker of parliament warned that the crippling economic crisis risked starvation in the island nation of 22 million people.

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana told lawmakers that more difficulties were ahead.

“We are told this is the worst crisis, but I think this is just the beginning,” Abeywardana said at the start of a two-day debate on worsening economic hardship.

“Shortages of food, gas and electricity will worsen. There will be very acute food shortages and famine.