Hon. S.M. Marikkar,— To ask the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education,— (1)
(a) Will she inform this House —
(i) whether ar...
(i) whether arrangements will be made to establish a Boys’ National school in future in the Dehiwala Divisional Secretariat division, where there is already a Girls’ National school;
(ii) if so, of the school that has been identified in the above division to be converted to a National School;
(iii) of the facilities that are to be given to that school; and
(iv) of the date on which the said National school will be established?
(b) If not, why?
Hon. S.M. Marikkar,—To ask the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education ,— (1)
(i) whether pl...
(i) whether plans have been formulated to make it compulsory for teaching Sinhala language in Tamil medium schools and Tamil language in Sinhala medium schools;
(ii) if so, of the timeframe for its implementation;
(iii) whether teachers are available for the aforesaid purpose; and
(iv) if not, of the steps that will be taken to fill the relevant teacher vacancies?
Hon. S.M. Marikkar,—To ask the Minister of Energy,— (1)
(a) Will he inform this House —
(i) of the time elapsed since the commencement of sending the electricity bills t...
(i) of the time elapsed since the commencement of sending the electricity bills through the SMS facility?
(ii) whether all electricity consumers have got registered for the SMS service by now;
(iii) if not, of the number of electricity consumers who have not registered yet; and
(iv) of the measures that have been taken to provide electricity bills to electricity consumers who are unable to register for that service and who do not have mobile phones?
Hon. S.M. Marikkar,— To ask the Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Housing,— (1)
(i) of the number of homeless familie...
(i) of the number of homeless families in the Kolonnawa Divisional Secretariat Division;
(ii) whether a course of action has been proposed to provide housing to the abovementioned families;
(iii) if so, of the course of action concerned; and
(iv) of the timeframe within which the course of action is expected to be implemented?
255/2024
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,—To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation,— (2)
(i)&nb...
(i) whether he is aware that the “Walahanduwa Estate” land in Nugaduwa of Galle District was planned to be subdivided and allocated for various projects;
(ii) of the present status of those projects;
(iii) of the amount of money that has been spent on those projects so far;
(iv) whether the need for and the expected benefits of each project have been identified;
(v) accordingly, which of the projects are essential;
(vi) if some of those projects have now been halted midway, whether there is a possibility of restarting those projects; and
(vii) if not, of the loss that those projects will incur?
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,— To ask the Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs,—(1)
(i) whether he is awar...
(i) whether he is aware that the Folk Arts Centre (Jana Kala Kendraya) established in Kaikawala, Bentara has been abandoned without being used at present;
(ii) whether that Folk Arts Centre is in a still usable condition;
(iii) or else, whether that can be reused after renovation; and
(iv) of the steps that will be taken to restore its administrative functions?
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,—To ask the Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure,— (1)
(i) of the present status of the &...
(i) of the present status of the ‘Holuwagoda’ Development Project in Galle District;
(ii) of the extent of agricultural land expected to be developed under the project concerned;
(iii) of the existing obstacles against the utilization of the extent of land concerned for agricultural activities; and
(iv) whether the project has accrued the expected benefits when compared to the expenditure borne so far?
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,—To ask the Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation,— (1)
(i) of the benefits expected...
(i) of the benefits expected from the ‘Port City’ project proposed to be implemented in the area associated with the Galle port;
(ii) whether a feasibility study has been conducted in relation to the impacts caused to the environment by that project;
(iii) of the changes that have been made relating to the project as a result of the public outcry raised previously; and
(iv) whether the impact of this proposed project on the life of the community has been taken into consideration?
Hon. (Ms.) Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law,—To ask the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education,— (2)
(a) Will she inform this House of the —
(i) number of foreign official visits made by the Former President Ranil Wickramasinghe during the period from 2022 to 2024;
(ii) country of visit; objective, benefits accrued to Sri Lanka, those persons who were part of the visit on government expense other than the former President, and the purpose of making each of them part of it, separately in respect of each visit overseas; and
(iii) total expenditure borne for these visits overseas?
Hon. (Ms.) Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law,—To ask the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development,— (1)
(i) whether he i...
(i) whether he is aware that Mr. Peter Breuer, IMF's Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, stated during the media briefing held on 23.11.2024 that Sri Lanka has not reached the targets set for it by the IMF in terms of social spending;
(ii) of the total amount of funds allocated by the Budget for 2024 for the beneficiaries of Asvesuma, the elderly, the people with chronic illnesses, and the disabled citizens;
(iii) of the amount which had been spent out of the aforesaid funds as at 23.11.2024;
(iv) how much it is as a percentage;
(v) of the amount of money that had been allocated for social spending for the year 2024 according to the target set by the IMF for it; and
(vi) of the reasons for not allocating the funds concerned for the purpose adequately?
238/2024
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,— To ask the Minister of Health and Mass Media,—(1)
(i) whether he is aware of the shortage of medicines, surgical and medical equipment, laboratory testing tools, and equipment required for radioactive experiments like reactants and X-ray machines in both government and private hospitals in Sri Lanka;
(ii) if so, whether there is a report on the medicines and equipment there are currently available, as well as those in short supply, from among the items mentioned in (i) above;
(iii) of the plans have been made to ensure the continuous supply of the above medicines and equipment until the end of 2025;
(iv) whether there is a possibility of a shortage of any medicine or equipment;
(v) of the measures that are being taken to procure the above medicines and equipment and to mitigate the risks that may arise from their absence?
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,—To ask the Minister of Health and Mass Media,— (1)
(a) Will he accept that—
(i)&...
(i) specialist doctors, doctors and other trained health professionals have left the country because of the economic crisis that existed in Sri Lanka; and
(ii) it has caused an adverse effect on the health service in Sri Lanka?
(b) Will he inform this House separately of the numbers of specialist doctors, doctors, nursing officers, supplementary and paramedical service officers and junior staff —
(i) who are currently serving in the health service of Sri Lanka;
(ii) who are necessary for ensuring a proper public health service in the future;
(iii) who have left the service before reaching the age of retirement from the year 2022 to November 2024; and
(iv) who are currently undergoing training in various academic institutions including specialist training?
(c) Will he also inform this House of the steps that will be taken to recruit them into the health service expeditiously?
(d) If not, why?
Hon. (Dr.) Nishantha Samaraweera,—To ask the Minister of Health and Media,— (1)
(i) whether he is aware that a new post styled ‘END...
(i) whether he is aware that a new post styled ‘END POST’ has been created for specialist doctors at certain major government hospitals;
(ii) of the scientific basis for creating the post concerned;
(iii) or else, whether those are created only as and when so desired by some officers;
(iv) whether he will take steps to formulate for it a formal and transparent methodology that cannot be manipulated according to personal desires; and
(v) if so, the timeframe is for formulating such a methodology?
(i) what is expected of creating a field of s...
(i) what is expected of creating a field of specialist training named “Family Medicine”;
(ii) whether the specialist physicians of that category have been posted so that what is expected, as referred to above, is achieved, i.e. to be close to the society and the primary healthcare service; and
(iii) or else, whether they have been posted to hospitals close to towns based on certain personal interests?
236/2024
Hon. (Ms.) Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law,— To ask the Minister of Health and Mass Media,—(1)
(a) Will he accept—
(i) that there has been a...
(i) that there has been a shortage of medicines and the prices of medicines have increased unusually because of the lack of coordination between the parties involved in the medical supply process as well as because of the failure to maintain the database properly; and
(ii) that this situation has become a challenge for the existence of the entire health system?
(b) Will he inform this House—
(i) whether a computer software system is available to manage the stocks of medicines in the public health system;
(ii) if so, what the aforesaid system is;
(iii) whether the aforesaid system is updated regularly;
(iv) whether the process of purchasing medicines and the distribution of stocks are monitored regularly;
(v) who bears the responsibility for that;
(vi) of the irregularities and the weaknesses, which have been identified in this entire process; and
(vii) of the measures that are being taken to prevent them?
(c) If not, why?
Hon. (Ms.) Lakmali Hemachandra, Attorney at Law,—To ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism,— (1)
(i) of the ...
(i) of the types of visas issued to Sri Lankan workers leaving for employment in Korea;
(ii) of the basis of the decision taken by the previous government to send Sri Lankan workers for employment in Korea under E8 visa;
(iii) of the number of Sri Lankan workers who have left for employment in Korea under the visa mentioned above;
(iv) whether he is aware that the said workers are in distress;
(v) if so, the number of workers who are in distress; and
(vi) of the actions that will be taken regarding them?
(b) Will he also inform this House—
(i) whether Sri Lankan workers are sent for employment in Korea only under E8 visas; and
(ii) of the other types of visas issued, if any?
Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney at Law,—To ask the Minister of Health and Mass Media,— (2)
(a) Will he inform this House—
(i) whether he is aware of the publication ‘Provisional...
(i) whether he is aware of the publication ‘Provisional Clinical Practice Guidelines on COVID-19 suspected and confirmed Patients’;
(ii) if so, of the names of the experts who contributed content and recommendations to the publication;
(iii) of their affiliations and designations at the time of their serving as expert resource persons;
(iv) of the authority responsible for appointing them; and
(v) of the criteria/basis followed to select them?
(i) whether he is aware of Section 7 of the above publication;
(ii) if so, of the names of the specific expert resource persons responsible for the content and recommendations in the abovementioned Section;
(iii) separately, the process, documents and references used to develop the content and recommendations in Section 7; and
(iv) whether the recommendations in Section 7 are subject to the professional opinion of experts in the fields of medical ethics and medical anthropology either locally or internationally?
Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney at Law,— To ask the Minister of Health and Mass Media,—(1)
(i) whether the Minister of Health is in agreement ...
(i) whether the Minister of Health is in agreement with the statement made by the State Minister of Indigenous Medicine on 29/11/2022 that the Ministry of Health was misled on its policy decision with regard to the cremation of COVID-19 deaths by a ‘Committee of Experts’; and
(ii) whether the aforementioned Committee was a government appointed Committee?
(b) If the above Committee was a government appointed Committee, will he also inform this House—
(i) of the recommendations of it specifically on COVID-19 death disposals;
(ii) of the appointing authority;
(iii) of the terms of Reference and/or mandate;
(iv) of the names of the members and designations;
(v) of the name of the Chair;
(vi) whether it meets continuously;
(vii) if not, the last date it met;
(viii) of the number of meetings held to date;
(ix) of the place where meetings held; and
(x) of the names of the individuals chaired each of the meetings, separately;
(a) Will he inform this House separately with regard to the COVID-19 disease in Sri Lanka during the perio...
(a) Will he inform this House separately with regard to the COVID-19 disease in Sri Lanka during the period from 2019 to 2022 of the—
(i) total number of laboratory-confirmed cases;
(ii) total number of confirmed deaths; and
(iii) breakdown of deaths based on age, sex, province and district of residence, ethnicity and religion of the deceased?
(b) Will he also inform this House separately with regard to the COVID-19 deaths in Sri Lanka during the period from 2019 to 2022 of the—
(i) method/s used for death disposals;
(ii) total number of death disposed of by cremation;
(iii) total number of death disposed of by burial; and
(iv) breakdown of death disposed of by cremation and burial based on age, sex, province and district of residence, ethnicity and religion of the deceased?
242/2024
Hon. S.M. Marikkar,— To ask the Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation,—(1)
(i) whether action...
(i) whether action will be taken in the time to come for the construction of the flyover proposed to be built across the Kirulapona junction;
(ii) if so, the timeframe for its construction; and
(iii) whether it is locally or from abroad that funds necessary for it will be obtained?
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