The Hon. (Dr.) Hansaka Wijemuni – Deputy Minister of Health and Mass Media

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the answers to the questions raised by the Hon. Ramanathan Archchuna under Standing Order 27(2) are as follows:

¶ 02 1. As the requested information is specific and must be obtained from the Northern Provincial Director of Health Services and the Ministry’s Chief Internal Auditor, it will take some time. We will provide answers once information is received.

¶ 03 2. Where complaints are made, investigations can be conducted.

¶ 04 3. Complaints can be made by any party to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, and proceedings will be taken as per the Commission’s decisions. The Ministry will cooperate with any related investigations.

¶ 05 Additionally, the health sector receives the largest share of donations among state agencies. However, the Ministry lacks a formal Donation Unit to properly manage these. To ensure transparency and alignment with priorities, we are taking steps to establish such a unit under a Director.

¶ 06 Another issue is misaligned donations—sometimes items that are unnecessary or already available, or donors insist that items be given only to a specific hospital. As a result, in some Northern hospitals, equipment like angiogram machines remain stored because they cannot be transferred, while installation is not feasible at the recipient hospital. Through the donation centre, we expect to identify and list priorities across facilities and manage donations more transparently. If there are specific allegations, we are ready to investigate. Once we receive the audit reports for the 15-year period requested, we will table them.