- Blames business objectives of authorities for decline since Ranil’s advent
Claiming that the health sector is sinking into an abyss day-by-day despite many other sectors having improved since the President and Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came into power, former Health Minister and incumbent Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition Parliamentarian, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that decisions taken by the relevant authorities with business objectives have led to that situation.
Speaking to the media yesterday (3), he said: “After Wickremesinghe took over the country, the country’s economy, the power and energy, and trade sectors, and exports have improved considerably. There has been progress in all those sectors. Among such sectors, it is only the health sector that is going to the abyss day-by-day. It has no improvement and is always accused of various acts of corruption.”
Claiming that the country is seeing a shortage of pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment needed to perform surgeries, he said that a shortage of medical officers has also arisen as of now. “The health sector is collapsing day-by-day and therefore, it needs to be developed immediately. There is no point in making decisions after people lose their lives or become disabled. The necessary decisions need to be made before such adverse situations emerge.”
Speaking further, Dr. Senaratne said that there is no impediment for the health sector to be developed as even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not proposed limitations with regard to the expenditure on the health and education sectors. “How easy is it to develop the health sector? The collapsing of such a sector in this way is very unfortunate. The people have become extremely helpless. Everything is short. Now, there is a shortage of doctors too. Most of these issues are caused by unwise decisions and business objectives of the relevant authorities,” he claimed.
For several months, there have been reports from time to time claiming that Dr. Senaratne plans to join the Wickremesinghe-led Government and that he would be given the position of the Health Minister, a post he has held on several occasions in the past, due to certain statements he had made praising the President’s programme to overcome the economic crisis. This turn of events has drawn the criticism of senior MPs representing the SJB in recent days.
Previously, several MPs who were elected to Parliament representing the SJB joined the current Government and assumed Ministerial positions. Among them are SJB National List MP Diana Gamage, who supported the Government since former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was in office, and MPs Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando, who assumed the portfolios of the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment and Minister of Tourism respectively, after Wickremesinghe’s appointment as the Prime Minister under Rajapaksa.
Source By themorning.lk
