The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the Minister understands maternal and child health well. PHMs render exceptional service. I draw attention to PHMs covering duties in other areas because many posts are vacant; they are paid only for six hours though they work 10, 20, or 25 hours covering. Please address this. Their travel allowance is Rs. 28 per km — clearly inadequate. Office allowance is Rs. 250 in rural and Rs. 450 in urban areas — also inadequate. When will recruitments be expedited, and when will Family Health Centres be established in PHM areas lacking such centres? Finally, with 14,021 GN divisions, many PHM areas span multiple GN divisions; loads have increased versus past family counts. I propose reducing the size of PHM areas.