Hon. (Dr.) Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, doctors cannot go home at 4.00 p.m.; they cannot go home at 12 noon; they cannot stay at home on holidays. They have to work around the clock. Likewise, health sector officials must also work continuously to provide uninterrupted service to the people. There is a cost to that. For example, if a nurse works 24 hours, her children have no one to cook for them; meals have to be bought from outside; she cannot take her children to classes. A doctor cannot do private practice. There is a cost to this, Mr. Chairman. Although current Government policy states that 3 percent is allocated for health, this year, after the adjustments, it is only 1.8 percent. I am placing in the Library a data sheet on non-communicable disease mortality and patient facilities, as my time is up.

¶ 02 I also wish to draw the Hon. Minister’s attention to a matter. Yesterday I saw on the YouTube channel “Sudaa Creation” footage of patients of the National Hospital being moved along the main road. This is a dangerous situation; please look into it.

¶ 03 VAT on packaging required for domestically produced pharmaceuticals has been removed, which is good to encourage local manufacturers. However, about 200 out of 550 medicines are in short supply, mainly due to delays in the tender process and in issuing letters of credit. Please address this. For example, labetalol, salbutamol respiratory solution, human albumin, and coagulation factors are scarce in our country. Please also focus on health education.

¶ 04 - Placed in the Library.