The Hon. Mujibur Rahuman
Mujibur Rahuman questioned the appointment of Dr. Anil Jasinghe as Secretary to the Health Ministry, in the context of the former Government’s mandatory cremation policy for COVID-19 deaths despite WHO guidance. He said Dr. Jasinghe had previously described the policy as a Health Ministry decision and accepted responsibility, and asked the Minister to clarify how such an official was appointed after acknowledging the country should be ashamed of that decision.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Minister Nalinda Jayathissa, you are absolutely right — as a country, we should be ashamed of that decision.
¶ 02 Even when WHO had issued guidelines, the then Government refused to accept them and forced cremations of COVID deaths. There was a team that made decisions; political authority took the decision, and it was publicly presented by doctors and officials. We met then Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe. When I raised it, he said it was a Health Ministry decision, not a political one, and accepted responsibility. How then has such an official been appointed Secretary to your Ministry now, when you yourself accept as a nation we should be ashamed? Please clarify this. That official justified those decisions; now he is your Ministry Secretary.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 December 2024 ·No. 1734685396083959 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Mujibur Rahuman. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 December 2024. No. 1734685396083959. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18165