People in the Thihagoda Divisional Secretariat Division are in a dire need of a government hospital.
They say they have to travel to the Matara General Hospital or the Kamburupitiya Base Hospital even for a minor ailment - over 12 kms.
Naimbala and Yatiyana have two state dispensaries but they do not have clinical facilities and drugs, they said.
Those who seek treatment from the dispensaries have to buy medicines from outside at high rates. The State Pharmaceutical Corporation is yet to establish a branch in the Thihagoda DS Division.
The area is a fast developing region in the Matara district and over one lakh of people live in the division. The people in the area urge health authorities to upgrade one of the state dispensaries to a provincial hospital and resolve the issue soon.