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"First, there's a shortage of drugs and then some of the medicines the government hospital provides are out of date," Ms Sanjeevani, who's from the central city of Anuradhapura, says.

The oldest plant in the world of known planting date is the Ficus religiosa Sri Maha Bodhi, which was planted in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, in 288 BC.

In North Central Anuradhapura, a 16-year old who had suffered a snakebite died as his father rushed desperately from pharmacy to pharmacy to look for the anti-venom the public hospital had run out of.

Tamil minority lawmaker Gajen Ponnambalam said Ratwatte summoned Tamil prisoners after going to the prison in Anuradhapura.

Lohan Ratwatte, state minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation, was accused of entering a prison in Anuradhapura north of Colombo on Sunday and threatening to kill two Tamil prisoners.