A significant proportion of patients were found to have a comorbid substance use diagnosis and associated complications. These findings have important implications for service provision for mentally ill patients with a comorbid substance use disorder.

Introduction Prisoners are considered to be at high risk for Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) virus infections. This is attributed to intravenous drug use and high-risk sexual behaviour. There are no published studies on HBV and HCV among prison inmates or injecting drug users in Sri Lanka.Objectives To determine prevalence of HBV and HCV infections, and their relationship to injectable drug use among Sri Lankan prisoners.Methods We investigated 393 (median age 42 years (range 16 to 93); 82% males) randomly selected inmates of Mahara and Welikada prisons.Results Though 167 (42.5%) admitted drug abuse, only 17 (4.3%) had ever used intravenous drugs. Twelve (70.6%) of them reported sharing needles. One inmate was positive for HBsAg but was negative for HBV-DNA. Twenty seven (6.9%) were positive for anti-HCV antibodies, of whom only 2 (0.5%) were positive for HCV-RNA. None of the injecting drug users were positive for HBV-DNA or HCV-RNA. ConclusionsThe prevalence of HBV and HCV infections as well as injecting drug use was very low among this cohort of Sri Lankan prison inmates.

No abstract

There is acceptance of and willingness to participate in TOP for fetal anomalies among Sri Lankan healthcare workers. These findings have relevance for developing prenatal diagnostic services in Sri Lanka. Religious affiliation among Asian doctors, nurses (and patients) in developed countries is likely to determine permissiveness toward PND and TOP.

Recent reviews on risk factors for psychological morbidity during the pandemic have revealed that inadequacy of personal protective equipment (PPE), long working hours, poor social support and fear of transmitting the disease to family are associated with mental health problems [8,9].