The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers to the Question raised by Hon. Ravi Karunanayake are as follows:

¶ 02 1) No.

¶ 03 Under approved overseas leave, the number of specialist medical officers currently abroad for employment is 135, and the number of nursing officers on such leave is 937.

¶ 04 2) (i) As stated, 135 specialist medical officers are abroad on approved overseas leave. A majority have gone to the United Kingdom and Australia, with smaller numbers to the United States, Canada and Singapore. (ii) Owing to these departures, certain hospitals experienced shortages of specialists in paediatrics, anaesthesiology and neurology. However, through proper human resource management, patient care services are being maintained without interruption. (iii) Where there are vacancies for specialists, newly returning medical officers who have completed training are appointed to act as specialists. Going forward, we intend to conduct broader analyses and take necessary measures. (iv) Salary determinations in the public service are made according to circulars issued by the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government. The 2025 Budget increased salaries across the public service, which has been promulgated by Public Administration Circular 10/2025. (v) The General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) is a university under the Ministry of Defence. Students are not admitted to KDU through the UGC Z-score. KDU has its own procedure for student admissions and admits accordingly; it is not the same as the UGC’s Z-score-based admissions to other universities. On one specific occasion in 2019, due to a special situation where 100 additional students had entered the medical faculty through the Z-score, those 100 students were admitted to the KDU Medical Faculty via the UGC Z-score, with Treasury bearing the required costs. That was only for that specific instance. Generally, KDU admissions are not through the UGC Z-score, and KDU follows its own procedure. I will table details of that procedure.

¶ 05 3) No such mechanism has been identified at present. However, under Public Administration Circular 14/2022, when an officer goes abroad, a Non-Resident Foreign Currency Account should be opened and a specified amount deposited monthly from income as set out in the circular, thereby generating some foreign exchange for the country.