The Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa
Nalinda Jayatissa stated that an earlier Cabinet decision, made despite expert epidemiological advice and without sufficient scientific basis, was wrong and was later reversed by a properly constituted committee. He said evolving WHO guidance allowed country-specific adaptations, and that Sri Lanka should continue to acknowledge and express regret for the decision.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 The committee’s composition shows its intended purpose. Its recommendations were discussed and agreed in Cabinet at the time; relevant ministers who could have clarified did not do so. We accept that decision was wrong and later reversed by a properly constituted committee after further study and evolving WHO guidance allowing country-specific adaptations. There was no scientific basis. Our epidemiology experts, including Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe and team, said so, but the then government did not heed them. We recognize it was wrong and, as a country, must repeatedly acknowledge and regret it.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 23 January 2025 ·No. 1738314169039521 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/10481
Cite as: The Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 23 January 2025. No. 1738314169039521. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/10481