News & market updates

Colombo market opened lower as the ASPI fell 0.10% to 22,788.79; major movers included Colombo Dockyard (DOCK +24.20%) and Ceylon Hospitals (CHL +25.64%), while C T Holdings, Central Finance and Richard Pieris were among the session's laggards.

Firstdoctor launched a cloud-based doctor booking and telemedicine Platform-as-a-Service in Sri Lanka, enabling doctors and small clinics to digitise consultations, scheduling and prescriptions. The platform aims to improve accessibility and could support cross-border medical tourism by allowing remote pre-treatment consultations.

Parliament adopted Committee Stage amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), and the Ministry said the Third Reading will be passed the same day after minor amendments proposed by the Legal Draftsman and AG's Department.

Firstdoctor has launched a cloud-based doctor booking and telemedicine Platform-as-a-Service in Sri Lanka, offering scalable, secure and low-cost digital tools for doctors and patients and enabling remote consultations and potential medical-tourism reach.

Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the ministry has ordered 90 billion rupees of medicines from the State Pharmaceutical Corporation and will allocate a further 20 billion rupees — a 230% rise — to avert drug shortages. Cabinet approval was also given for 46.7 billion rupees of local purchases and total medical supplies spending is 183 billion.

Curtin University Colombo hosted a high-level Australia–Sri Lanka research roundtable to develop joint projects in health, energy, agriculture, technology and policy. HNB's Chief Innovation Officer participated, with fintech and digital infrastructure among proposed collaboration areas.

The Sri Lanka–Greater Mekong Business Council held its 14th AGM and elected Nimal Ratnayake (Lanka Hospitals) as President for 2025–2026; committee seats went to firms including Aitken Spence Travels and Hayleys Advantis as the council promotes trade, tourism and sectoral collaboration (textiles, tea, IT, healthcare).

Keerthi Kodithuwakku, CEO of Jendo Innovations, was awarded the CSSL ICT Leader of the Year (Male) 2024; Jendo developed an AI-powered non-invasive vascular screening system that detects early-stage disease in about 15 minutes. The startup is positioned as a Sri Lankan biomedical innovation aiming to expand accessible, cost-effective diagnostics.

Medihelp Hospitals has integrated Moratuwa Medical Center into its network, retaining existing services and staff while gradually aligning the center’s infrastructure and medical systems with Medihelp’s nationwide standards.

Thailand's counselor highlighted the Sri Lanka–Thailand FTA as a milestone, citing opportunities in food, agriculture, tourism, healthcare and IT. The Sri Lanka–Greater Mekong Business Council held its 14th AGM and elected Nimal Ratnayake as President for 2025–2026.

Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank signed a $106.9 million financing package (a $100m loan and $6.9m grant) to support the Strengthening Integrated Health Care and Governance for Universal Health Coverage Program. The results-based program will target first referral/secondary care, pandemic preparedness, and pharmaceutical supply chain and technical capacity.

Sri Lanka signed a $100m loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank to develop the health sector. The program targets first-referral care, pandemic prevention/preparedness/response, health sector technical capacity and pharmaceutical supply-chain management, and includes a $6.9m grant.

Sri Lanka signed a USD 100.0m ADB loan and a USD 6.9m Pandemic Fund grant on 17 October 2025 to finance the Strengthening Integrated Health Care and Governance for Universal Health Coverage Program. The program will focus on first-referral care, pandemic preparedness, and improving health-sector capacity and pharmaceutical supply chain management, to be executed by the Ministry of Health and provincial health departments.

Government amends the bonded warehouse scheme to grant duty and tax exemptions for capital goods in priority sectors and adds renewable energy storage as eligible, effective 15 October 2025. Eligible renewable projects must involve ≥1 MW generation or ≥1 MWh storage; covered sectors include dairy, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, solid waste management and renewable energy.

Vision Care organised an awareness walk from Viharamahadevi Park to Independence Square with the Ceylon Council of Optometry and Orthoptics to mark World Sight Day 2025 and promote preventive eye care. The event highlighted early detection amid WHO data that 2.2 billion people have vision impairment, with 1 billion potentially preventable or unaddressed.

Disinfo2025 in Ljubljana convened global experts to tackle digital disinformation and AI-driven synthetic content, urging stronger international cooperation and measures such as early-warning systems and regional monitoring hubs to protect information integrity and critical sectors including health.

Durdans Hospital has opened a state-of-the-art Vascular Clinic in Sri Lanka offering advanced diagnostics, minimally invasive vascular interventions and non-invasive imaging to provide specialist vascular care locally.

IPS urges converting Sri Lanka's cyclical recovery into structurally driven growth through technology infusion, digitalisation and institutional reforms, noting GDP grew 4.9% in H1 2025.

SLIIT's SICET 2025 concluded after four days, receiving 173 submissions and accepting 102 papers while introducing a 16-paper Industry Track to boost academia–industry R&D. Panels and keynotes prioritized AI/6G, clean energy, healthtech, advanced manufacturing and shared national research infrastructure.

eChannelling launched eMindCare, a holistic digital mental wellbeing platform providing psychiatry, counselling, yoga, meditation and educational resources via web and mobile to expand access to mental health services across Sri Lanka.

Asiri Hospital Holdings PLC is the Platinum Sponsor of Medicare – International Healthcare Exhibition 2026, taking place 6–8 March 2026 at BMICH, Colombo. Asiri operates six internationally accredited hospitals and a large nationwide lab network, highlighting its high-volume cardiac, neuro and diagnostic services.

President Anura Kumara Disanayake carried out a pre-Budget cabinet reshuffle, appointing three new ministers and 10 deputy ministers, including Bimal Rathnayake (Transport, Highways & Urban Development), Anura Karunathilake (Ports & Civil Aviation) and H.M. Susil Ranasinghe (Housing, Construction & Water Supply). The President retains the Finance, Planning and Digital Economy portfolios.

Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa visited LAUGFS Life Sciences’ sterile LVP facility in the BOI Koggala EPZ; the company is preparing to produce large-volume parenterals using Euro Multiport and Form-Fill-Seal technologies to reduce import reliance.

World Bank says Sri Lanka's recovery remains incomplete, projects GDP growth of 4.6% in 2025 and 3.5% in 2026, and urges urgent structural reforms and more efficient, better-targeted public spending to boost private investment and complete/maintain infrastructure.

Huawei unveiled a three-step “ACT” pathway and nine industrial-intelligence solutions at HUAWEI CONNECT 2025; customer cases include a banking master–sub-agent architecture improving revenue and efficiency, China Southern Power Grid’s 'MegaWatt' boosting inspection efficiency fivefold and >90% accuracy, and a medical-record appliance cutting record generation to about one second.

Aditya Resort and Christell Life launched 'Wellness by the Sea', a beachfront luxury medical-wellness destination in Galle combining modern aesthetic medicine with traditional Ayurvedic therapies to position Sri Lanka as a medical wellness tourism hub.

Body Doc Fitness & Wellness Pavilion marked its eighth anniversary, highlighting its growth into a 50,000 sq ft medically driven facility offering medical consultations, diagnostics, a pharmacy, nutrition programs and a range of fitness and lifestyle services.

At the National AI Expo & Conference 2025, Sri Lanka announced that every student will receive free access to Google's AI platforms (including Google Gemini) beginning mid-October; the government also unveiled a four-pillar AI strategy, regional AI hubs and a National Cyber Security Operation Centre.

Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa visited LAUGFS Life Sciences’ state-of-the-art BOI Koggala facility as the company prepares Large Volume Parenteral (LVP) production using Euro Multiport and Form-Fill-Seal technologies. The project aims to reduce import dependence, support local healthcare supply and position Sri Lanka as a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub.