The Hon. (Dr.) Sandaruwan Madarasinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chair, thank you for the time during the debate on the Heads of Health and Media.

¶ 02 Listening to the Opposition, one would think our world-class health service collapsed only this year. Let me remind them of the damages politicians—not health professionals—caused in recent years.

¶ 03 First, when we took office, numerous hospital construction projects had been abandoned midway—about 33 buildings were left to decay. We are restarting them. In Hambantota District, the Nephrology Unit building at Hambantota General Hospital was stopped; we will resume next year. The Tangalle Hospital ICU, opened on 2009.11.28 by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been closed for years and is crumbling within a decade—what does that say about the contracts awarded?

¶ 04 They halted MOH buildings. Substandard drugs reduced quality. During the no-confidence motion against former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the Hon. Namal Rajapaksa—who just spoke—defended him.

¶ 05 There was a severe shortage of essential medicines and equipment when we took over. Trade union leaders were brought to Parliament and given vehicle permits within a month—not to doctors, but to union heads.

¶ 06 During COVID, they promoted “honey” cures; ministers appeared on TV drinking honey. Patients were told to get tickets at hospitals, and then the Health Minister scolded them.

¶ 07 Recruitments to health services lacked scientific basis—chosen by district of the Minister. That is the service we inherited. Now we are organizing it.

¶ 08 The Government has allocated Rs. 654 billion for health. Health professionals—consultants, doctors, nurses—worked under great difficulty to sustain indicators while politicians damaged the system.

¶ 09 Upon coming to power, we allocated Rs. 110 billion in our first Budget for public sector salary increases; in this Budget, Rs. 220 billion more for salary increases. Of the Rs. 654 billion for Health, Rs. 292 billion is for salaries. The Opposition Leader and Hon. Kavinda Jayawardana cited old salaries; let me update: before we came, a Grade II Medical Officer basic was Rs. 52,955—raised to Rs. 73,344, and now to Rs. 82,547. Grade I MO rose from Rs. 58,305 to Rs. 90,673. Grade I MOA from Rs. 71,805 to Rs. 111,193 in January. Consultant basic from Rs. 88,000 to Rs. 136,575. These are basic salaries; related scales also increase.

¶ 10 For nurses, Grade II basic rose from Rs. 37,635 to Rs. 59,219 by 2026; Supra Grade from Rs. 53,035 to Rs. 82,679; Special Grade from Rs. 54,235 to Rs. 84,497. We are not saying this alone is sufficient—we inherited a bankrupt country and are stabilizing and growing the economy, committed to revisiting salaries as feasible.

¶ 11 We also provide housing loans up to Rs. 5 million at concessional rates—first Rs. 3 million at 4 percent, next Rs. 2 million at 2 percent—applicable to health staff; increased Agrahara insurance cover with an additional Rs. 75,000 and monthly contributions of Rs. 300 and 600 raised by Rs. 150; festival advances from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000; disaster loans at 4.2 percent raised from Rs. 250,000 to Rs. 400,000; and restoration of pensions removed in 2016, benefiting over 12,000 health workers including doctors. We are recruiting over 75,000 new public servants as well.

¶ 12 These measures show our commitment to strengthen the health service we inherited in disarray.