Partnering them in their response to the public health crisis is the Sri Lankan military, playing many roles from contact-tracing to running quarantine centres to distributing relief. Also read | ‘Stay at home for the country’If that is the case, does the public health sector really need military assistance to combat COVID-19 now is a question that critics of militarisation ask. National Operation CenterThe military was officially roped into Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 response mid-March, a week after the first local tested positive. They play a key role in decision making and charting out the action plan, senior doctors in the public health sector and outside the system said. “We have no specific laws to guide us through a pandemic — what is the role of the public health sector?

Source: The Hindu April 15, 2020 18:10 UTC