The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, before turning to agriculture, I wish to respond to the statement by the Hon. Minister of Health and Mass Media on the Anuradhapura incident. I thank the Minister for his timely conduct and his request to the media. While we are pleased with the responsible behavior of print media, social media has been irresponsible—one outlet circulated the image of an unrelated doctor nationwide. The law must address this.

¶ 02 Regarding the Government Medical Officers’ Association’s strike: while the suspect has been arrested, the problem is not fully resolved. Responsibility lies with prior administrations and hospital management as well. Doctors told me that on-call room conditions—even in major hospitals like Kalubowila—are poor: doors without locks, windows missing, flooding rooms where doctors themselves must bail out water. In rural hospitals, conditions are worse. Typically, when GMOA strikes, house officers and registrars oppose it; but for the first time, many across the service support action because female doctors and their families are fearful.

¶ 03 Hon. Minister, the Health Ministry has received substantial funds this Budget. Please ensure maximum security—state or private—and urgently fix accommodation and safety deficiencies for on-call staff. With a woman Prime Minister and the highest-ever number of women MPs, we must resolve this swiftly. This is not to justify strikes, but to address the real fear female doctors and their families feel. Deploy all necessary resources, including the armed forces if required, to guarantee their safety.

¶ 04 Parliament then resumed. The House agreed to extend time to complete today’s debate.

¶ 05 Mr. Chairman, regarding reports that the Prime Minister banned politicians at school functions: the media report is incorrect, as clarified by the Hon. Harini Amarasuriya—there is no such ban, only a call for all of us not to politicize schools. Also, if the Hon. Speaker attends, it is as Head of the Legislature, not as a party representative.

¶ 06 On rice prices: Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne said controlled price was Rs. 220 and questioned how rice could be Rs. 180. A controlled price is not the market price. According to Central Bank and Department of Census and Statistics data, when you took office, Nadu and red rice were around Rs. 180–190. Within a month or two, due to poor management, prices rose to around Rs. 280. You claim the minimum paddy price at Rs. 120 led to buying at Rs. 130–140 and selling rice at a controlled Rs. 220–230. Then why did the President increase the controlled rice price by Rs. 10 when paddy was earlier bought at Rs. 80–90? If Rs. 230 works when buying at Rs. 130, it should have worked when buying cheaper. The public consumes about 650,000 kg of rice daily; a Rs. 10 increase burdens them by hundreds of millions daily—over Rs. 1.9 billion a month. For three months, the public has lost over Rs. 5.5 billion due to this Rs. 10 hike. Who benefits? Please clarify.

¶ 07 I wish the Minister and Deputy Ministers success in developing agriculture.