The Hon. Sajith Premadasa – Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson,—

¶ 02 I will not make a speech but propose to our Hon. Minister of Health the following. The Joint Trade Union Committee of Government Ayurvedic Medical Officers has repeatedly requested a meeting. They are at Polduwa today presenting their grievances.

¶ 03 First, of the Rs. 654 billion allocated to the Ministry of Health in the Budget, only Rs. 6 billion—0.96 per cent—has been allocated to indigenous medicine. Their request is to increase this to 5 per cent.

¶ 04 Second, the additional service allowance of 20 hours per month that was paid for four months has been cut by your Government. They request its restoration.

¶ 05 Third, there is a salary disparity exceeding Rs. 150,000. The Joint Committee led by Dr. Upul Kondasinghe, Dr. Chathura Janaka, and Dr. Chamal Kulanila represents over 2,000 doctors. Please convene them, listen, reinstate the additional allowance, address salary anomalies, and increase the indigenous medicine allocation from 0.96 per cent to 5 per cent.