The Hon. (Dr.) Madhura Senevirathna - Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education
The Deputy Minister argued that Sri Lanka’s health system requires continuous and effective management, not ad hoc responses, because failures in management have contributed to its gradual deterioration over many years. He said the problems predate the current administration and stressed that proper implementation of existing laws, particularly the PMIR Act, is necessary to regulate private hospitals and medical institutions according to quality standards.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, the health system must be sustained through proper management. When management breaks down, the system collapses. Over past decades, although a health system existed, management continuity was lacking. You cannot run health by ad hoc answers to day-to-day issues; it is a continuous, highly sensitive process dealing with people’s lives.
¶ 02 When we took office, the health system was gradually collapsing. This did not happen yesterday or in the last two years. Had processes functioned properly, the breakdowns you saw would not have occurred. As private hospitals were discussed today, a word on regulation: we have a law to regulate private medical institutions—the PMIR Act. However, if that law is not properly implemented, private hospitals and medical institutions will not be regulated for quality according to prescribed standards.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 5 February 2025 ·No. 1739175806099814 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Madhura Senevirathna - Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 February 2025. No. 1739175806099814. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26929