Sri Lanka's health sector is to start regulating prices of private hospitals from next week, too government sources said. 

There has been a strong outcry from the society to regulate prices of private hospitals as most of them are accused of overcharging customers for various services. 

Under the current regulations, the Health Ministry of Sri Lanka had limited influence in affairs of private hospitals. 

Health Ministry sources said pricing for 33 services offered by private hospitals would be regulated under the new system. 

At the same time, the Health Ministry would be able to monitor the operations of private hospitals and take action against those violating the price regulation. 

It is learnt that Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne has directed Health Services Director General Anil Jasinghe to expedite the introduction of price regulation for private hospitals. 

Upon introduction, the new price regulations and laws relating to it will be gazetted by the Health Ministry. 

This also comes in the wake of the Health Ministry's move to bring down prices of 15 medicinal drug items, including drugs used by cancer patients.