10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Galle· 7 January 2025 ·Oral question: Oral Question: Government and Private Hospitals Shortage of Medicines and Equipment (Q.238/2024)

Public FinanceHealthcareCorruption & Governance Reform
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Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera raised concerns about past shortcomings in the procurement of medicines and the need for stronger controls within the Ministry of Health. He asked whether the Ministry would conduct a comprehensive review of cancelled tenders, incomplete procurement processes, and medicine imports, and present a report to Parliament on the resulting financial loss to the country and the impact on the public.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Minister, thank you for the reply. With your permission, Hon. Speaker, I wish to ask two supplementary questions.

¶ 02 There were concerns regarding the procurement of medicines recently. Among all ministries, public attention was most focused on the Ministry of Health. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that previous shortcomings do not recur and that controls are strengthened, and we know the Ministry is intervening.

¶ 03 However, by cancelling tenders—without completing procurement processes—and importing medicines, a major crisis arose in the country. Therefore, after a thorough study of the overall process, can a report be presented to this House on the total financial loss caused to the country and the overall impact on the people?

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 7 January 2025 ·No. 1736487038022510 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 January 2025. No. 1736487038022510. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/15937