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

The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Kalutara· 17 December 2024 ·Oral question: Oral Question: Cremation of COVID-19 Victims (Q.9/2024)

HealthcareParliamentary Procedure
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Raising a Point of Order, Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe said a past health-related decision was a wrong political decision that had resulted in a tragedy, with officials acting on the recommendations of an appointed committee. He stated that the Prime Minister and Minister of Health had addressed the matter reasonably, and pledged that the Government would take care to prevent a recurrence, intervene where possible to remedy any injustice, and assume responsibility for relevant technical aspects.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Sir, I rise to a Point of Order.

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, at the time this issue arose, we intervened as doctors and as people who understood the subject. It was clearly a wrong political decision. Why did the Secretary and the Director-General have to go along with it? Because a committee had been appointed; the final decisions for the Secretary and DG were made based on that committee’s recommendations. We all know it was a tragedy, a wrong decision, caused by political decision-making. The Hon. Prime Minister and the Hon. Minister of Health and Mass Media have presented matters quite reasonably. We pledge that this Government will act carefully to ensure such a thing will not happen again. If there is anything we can do to address the injustice that occurred, the Government will intervene, and we will take responsibility for the relevant technical aspects as well.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 17 December 2024 ·No. 1734685396083959 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Nihal Abeysinghe. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 December 2024. No. 1734685396083959. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18168