{"id":54832,"date":"2017-08-27T00:54:21","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T04:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=54832"},"modified":"2017-08-27T03:39:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T07:39:51","slug":"even-if-no-confidence-motion-against-health-minister-is-defeated-as-expected-drrajitha-senaratne-will-not-come-out-unscathed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=54832","title":{"rendered":"Even if No Confidence Motion Against Health Minister is Defeated as Expected, Dr,Rajitha Senaratne Will not Come out Unscathed."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

The “Sunday Times” Political Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

The past weeks have seen the UNP\u2019s standing countrywide taking a bad beating. It began with events relating to the resignation of Ravi Karunanayake as Foreign Minister. This week, Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was removed from his portfolio.<\/p>\n

Now, a third, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne will face a Vote of No Confidence in Parliament. Due to appear in the Order Book of Parliament is the following motion:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the Minister Rajitha Senaratne has refrained from taking part in the investigations against him by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption on allegations levelled against him by Members of Parliament and other parties, the process of implementing justice has been obstructed,<\/p>\n

\u201cSince there is a public opinion building up that he is responsible for the allegations, as he has refrained from taking part in the investigations and clearing his name,<\/p>\n

\u201cSince, he is responsible for creating a crisis in the Medical education in Sri Lanka by using his powers arbitrarily to commercialise the medical education in Sri Lanka and sacrificing it to the business community,<\/p>\n

Since, there is a misuse of public funds by using public funds to maintain a privately owned hospital with public funds after making misleading statements that the Neville Fernando hospital has been acquired by the government,<\/p>\n

Since, as the Health Minister he has misused his powers by acting in a manner favourable to the SAITM through the Attorney General by failing to submit to the courts details in relation to a Writ Application in the Court of Appeal case (No: 187\/2016),<\/p>\n

\u201cSince, he has created a crisis regarding the minimum medical standards in medical education by deliberately avoiding the issue of issuing the Gazette notification on the minimum standards for medical education prepared by the Sri Lanka Medical Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince, the right to life of the public was put at risk by failing to promptly act during the outbreak of the Dengue epidemic and the fact that state run hospitals refused to admit Dengue patients,<\/p>\n

\u201cSince, there was a case of corruption and caused a financial loss to the government by purchasing pharmaceuticals to the value of Rs. 986 million from a recently registered private firm (Armes) owned by Dilshard Ikram Mohamed who is a close relative of Rumy Mohammed, a close friend of Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne and appointed as a Working Director of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation to which Dr Senaratne recommended a drug for cancer which has been rejected by the specialist and not completed the minimum period of use before usage,<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he has caused a major financial loss to the state and a fraud by handing over the Modera Fisheries Harbour to a private institution without following tender procedures while serving as the minister of Fisheries,<\/p>\n

Since, he has misused his powers and obtained bribes as a minister by appointing one of his secretaries Lalith Anuradha Seneviratne to a Chinese Company named Blue Ocean Fisheries to which he issued a licence for deep sea fishing and demanded shares of the company,<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he has interfered in the independence of judiciary by intimidating and bringing pressure on the judiciary and the Attorney Generals Department,<\/p>\n

Therefore the Parliament resolves that the confidence in Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine to function as a minister has been lost. \u201c<\/p>\n

The No Confidence Motion came just a day after Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake castigated Senaratne in Parliament. Speaking on the adjournment motion on the drought situation. He declared, \u201cThe Health Minister says anyone can get free medicine from government hospitals as well as get tests done. Then why are there so many pharmacies and laboratories outside Government hospitals? There were only funeral parlours outside hospitals those days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Government health sector is functioning well, will the Health Minister go to Singapore for treatment? If he had faith in the local health service, will the Health Minister take Rs 10 million from the President\u2019s Fund and go to Singapore to get treatment?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that is the case he should have got his surgery done at the National Hospital. Why is the Health Minister going to Singapore\u2019s Mount Elizabeth Hospital? He should be ashamed of himself. For a man in the rural areas, to get Rs. 150,000 from the President\u2019s Fund for a heart operation, he must visit the Grama Sevaka and get a doctor\u2019s certificate and the District Secretary\u2019s certification. The Minister got Rs 10 million without any of these. How were the Matara and Modera fishery harbours given on lease?<\/p>\n

There was an investigation by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption and then he spoke to the President and got the Director General removed. His brother in law is in the Ayurveda Department. His wife is giving appointments through letters.<\/p>\n

Those are the things to be investigated. He is the only one who lost an MP post due to a court case .He must thank Ranil Wickremesinghe for taking him from the national list.\u201d Speaking to reporters this week, Senaratne claimed that the contents of the motion against him were \u201call lies.\u201d
\n
\n
\nWith a comfortable majority in Parliament, the motion is sure to be defeated. However, that is not to say that Senaratne, an official spokesperson of the Government, will come unscathed. His credibility takes a beating almost every week when he addresses the news conference after the Cabinet meeting. Disclosures in Parliament, even if some are right or wrong, are bound to further affect his credibility.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Needless to say that embarrasses not only the Government but also the UNP which is reeling with one political disaster after another.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By The “Sunday Times” Political Editor The past weeks have seen the UNP\u2019s standing countrywide taking a bad beating. It began with events relating to the resignation of Ravi Karunanayake as Foreign Minister. This week, Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was removed from his portfolio. Now, a third, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne will …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Even if No Confidence Motion Against Health Minister is Defeated as Expected, Dr,Rajitha Senaratne Will not Come out Unscathed.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54833,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54832\/revisions\/54833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}