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Lanka Hospital Directors werepaid Rs 13.68m for 19 meetings in 2015
View(s):The Board of Directors of Lanka Hospitals, numbering 23, were paid allowances amounting to Rs 13.68 million in 2015, for attending 19 Board meetings, according to documents tabled in Parliament recently.
The Board of Directors for 2015 included Dr Sarath Paranavitana and the Ven Thiniyawala Palitha Thera.
The payments made were as under:
Dr Paranavitana (Rs 1.36 million), Ven. Palitha Thera (Rs 1.28 mllion), Damien Fernando (Rs 1.2 million), Dr (Ms) Dilani Lokuhetti (Rs 1.12 million), Dr Rohan Wijesundara (Rs 1.36 million), Prof Mandika Wijeratne (Rs 1.12 million), Dr Harsha Gunasekera (Rs 1.12 million), Prof Asitha De Silva (Rs 720,000), Tissa Nanayakkara (Rs 880,000), Samantha Perera(Rs 240,000), Keith Bernard (Rs 240,000), Asendra Siriwardena (Rs 160,000), Uma Rajamanthri (Rs 240,000), Dr Anil Abeywickrema (Rs 240,000), K. Srivastav (Rs 160,000), Prof Dayasiri Fernando (Rs 240,000), G.W.K. Wickremasinghe (Rs 240,000), P.A. Lionel (Rs 240,000), Malvinder Mohan Singh and Daljith Man Singh (Rs 480,000 each), Bandula Wijesiriwardena (Rs 240,000), W.D. Nihal Jayatillake and C.L.K.P. Jayasuriya (Rs 160,000 each).
However, eight other members of the Board of Directors, including former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, received no payments, according to the tabled documents.
In 2014, 10 members of the Board of Directors of Lanka Hospitals were paid Rs 6,960,000 for attending 12 Board meetings.
The payments made in 2014 were as under:
Dr G.W.K .Wickremasinghe (Rs 960,000), Dr N.N.A.P.B. Wijesiriwardena (Rs 960,000), Dr W.D. Nihal Jayatillake (Rs 720,000), P.A. Lionel, Ms R.S. Cabraal, Prof Fernando (Rs 960,000 each), Sahinder Man Singh (Rs 320,000), Sunil Godwani (Rs 240,000), Dr N.L. Kanishka Karunaratne and Malvinder Man Singh (Rs 480,000 each).
There were 18 members in the Board of Directors of the Hospital in 2014, which included the former Defence Secretary. However, no payments were made in his name that year either.
The question regarding the names of the Board of Directors of Lanka Hospitals in 2014 and 2015, the Board meetings they attended and the individual payments made was raised by UPFA MP Prasanna Ranatunga.
When Mr Ranatunga asked why the Government allowed increased allowances to be paid to the Hospital’s Directors, when it had pledged to cut costs on taking power, Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development, Eran Wickramaratne replying on behalf of the Government, said that, such decisions are made by the Board of Directors themselves.