2025-03-05
News Categories : Committee News
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Health and Mass Media met for the first time in Parliament on 04.03.2025 under the chairmanship of Hon. Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa. The Hon. Deputy Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni and Hon. Deputy Speaker, Dr. Rizvie Salih were also present on the occasion.
Members of Parliament drew the attention of the Committee to the issues existing in hospitals and related issues across the island. Accordingly, the Committee discussed the issue of repairing the existing defects in the ambulances currently parked in hospitals. The Hon. Members inquired from the officials about the legal conditions for repairing those defective ambulances on a private level without any cost to the government. Accordingly, the relevant officials informed the Committee that they are ready to look into the situation and inform the Hon. Members as soon as possible.
Addressing the meeting, the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, said that it is appropriate to establish maintenance units at the provincial level for vehicles required to carry out minor maintenance work at the Ministry of Health, and accordingly, it is expected to start such a unit in the Western Province as an initial step.
The committee also discussed the establishment of a pharmacy in the Batticaloa district. Accordingly, the officials said that after identifying the relevant location and land area, the pharmacy will be established and completed as soon as possible. In addition, the committee's attention was also drawn to the construction of hospitals in the Eastern Province. Accordingly, the committee said that the government has given priority to the prompt completion of the construction of hospitals whose construction has not been completed. Furthermore, during this discussion, attention was also drawn to the shortcomings existing in regional hospitals, the shortage of doctors, and the transfers of doctors.
The Committee also discussed the activities of the Ministry of Mass Media. Accordingly, the members asked the officials whether the broadcasting of the Rajarata Regional Radio would continue. Accordingly, the officials informed the Committee that at present, Rajarata Radio is broadcasting amidst many difficulties and no decision has been taken to stop it. The officials also said that plans have been made to bring the radio back to a higher level. The members emphasized that a large group of artists and scholars are ready to voluntarily contribute to the Rajarata Radio Service and that a formal mechanism should be developed to join them.
The MPs suggested that this Ministerial Consultative Committee, which has two different scopes, should be held in two sessions rather than one session. The Committee chairperson, in response, said that it was difficult to discuss the two scopes of the Ministry in a formal manner within a short period of time and that, as suggested by the MPs, it was expected that the two relevant scopes would be discussed separately in the future.
Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Members of Parliament including the Committee Members and a group of officials headed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Anil Jasinghe were present at this meeting.
2026-06-19
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Environment focused its attention on the issue of water pollution in the Kelani River when it met in Parliament recently (10th June) under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Environment, Dr. Dammika Patabendi.During the meeting, the Committee was briefed on the progress of discussions being held with companies that have expressed willingness to invest in a project aimed at cleaning the waters of the Kelani River.The Committee also discussed a number of proposals and other issues raised by Hon. Members of Parliament.The meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
2026-06-18
A meeting of the Women Parliamentarians Caucus was held in Parliament recently to discuss the importance of incorporating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s national budget formulation process and to examine the challenges associated with its implementation.The meeting was chaired by the Chairperson of the Caucus and Hon. Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Saroja Savithri Paulraj. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya also participated in the discussion.A key concern raised during the discussion was the lack of adequate data and indicators to accurately assess and measure women’s economic contributions within the budgetary process. Drawing on examples of approaches adopted in India and other countries, members of the Caucus underscored the need to identify and address existing systemic and technical gaps in Sri Lanka’s budgeting framework.The Caucus also emphasized the importance of disaggregating data by gender in project reporting and strengthening digital data management systems to support such efforts. It was further noted that identifying relevant gender-related considerations at the initial stages of project design and implementation at the ministerial level would facilitate more effective project analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of outcomes.The need to move away from existing traditional and time-consuming methods towards formal online systems and data-driven analytical tools was also emphasized.The current progress and challenges in integrating Gender-Responsive Budgeting into Sri Lanka’s public financial policy were discussed in detail during the meeting.It was also emphasized that such budgeting should not be limited to nominal percentages in documents, but that the need to establish a formal framework and data system to ensure it has a real and practical impact was also highlighted.The Hon.Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemalee Weerasekera, Hon. Deputy Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyarathne, Co-Vice Chairpersons of the Caucus, Hon. Members of Parliament Chamindrani Kiriella, Attorney at Law and Samanmalee Gunasinghe, Hon. Members of Parliament Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney at Law, Krishnan Kaleichelvi, Sagarika Athauda ,Attorney at Law, Nilanthi Kottahachchi, Attorney at Law, Ambika Samivel and Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law, along with a group of officials from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, also participated in the event.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government met recently (Jun. 12) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a range of issues and proposals relating to their respective electorates, as well as several other matters of public importance.Hon. Members of Parliament and officials were present at the meeting.
2026-06-17
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs met recently (Jun. 09) at Parliament under the chairmanship of the Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.During the meeting, Members of Parliament discussed a number of proposals and issues, including reviewing the progress of discussions initiated with the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education and the Department of Examinations regarding the formulation of regulations to prevent the conduct of private tuition classes on Sunday mornings, thereby facilitating the holding of Dhamma School classes on Sundays.The meeting was attended by Hon. Deputy Ministers, Hon. Members of Parliament and officials.
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