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No-confidence motion against Health Minister appears on order book
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
The no-confidence motion against Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has been published as an addendum to the order book of Parliament.
The motion has been signed by 45 MPs led by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.
It has been signed by MPs representing several different opposition parties and alliances. They include the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the National People’s Power (NPP), the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and the Freedom People’s Congress (FPC) of MP Dullas Alahapperuma. SJB MPs Patali Champika Ranawaka and Kumara Welgama, who now function as independents in the opposition, have also signed the motion.
The motion states that solutions have not been put forward so far for the crisis that has arisen in the health sector at present. The opinion of the experts is that most of the “sorrowful incidents that are reported from hospitals day by day are deaths and impairments caused due to the use of drugs which either substandard or are low in quality,” it further claims.
As the Minister of Health, Mr Rambukwella is also accountable for not duly appointing the Board of Directors of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, for the importing of low quality drugs, for the importing of drugs deviating from the tender procedure, for the importing of drugs at exorbitant prices, for the scarcity of essential drugs and shortage of laboratory equipment in the hospital system and for the purchasing of unregistered drugs on the pretext of emergency purchases thereby resulting in deaths and impairments due to their use, the motion adds.
The MPs further accuse the Health Minister of neglecting to duly regulate the process of importing drugs to the country in a manner not inconsistent with the guiding principles of State Policy stipulated in Article 27 of the Constitution regardless of the fact that the government is bound to uphold the principles therein.
The motion claims that the Minister “has acted ruining the safe health service available for people,” thereby breaching the pledge he has given in terms of Article 53 of the Constitution.
The motion adds that the Minister has neglected his fundamental duties required by Article 28 of the Constitution and “people have to pay the price of his irresponsible conduct with their lives.”
No dates have so far been fixed to debate the motion.
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