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Sumanthiran making ‘constructive comments’ urges govt to revise out-dated laws to tackle the pandemic

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By Saman Indrajith

Jaffna District TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran urged the government to bring in new laws to deal with the current situation prevailing in the country owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participating in a debate on COVID-19 at the time of the adjournment of the House on Friday, the MP said the existing laws were not adequate to tackle the issues resulting from the pandemic.

“I said during the lockdowns that there was a need for new legislation to counter the situation as the quarantine and infectious diseases ordinances we have are over 100 years old. The PHIs’ Union has written to the government that these laws are not adequate to tackle the current crisis. Therefore, we even asked Parliament to be reconvened during the time it was dissolved to make new laws.

“We don’t even have laws to impose curfew properly. Although everyone has to go with what is happening today, it is illegal as there is nothing called quarantine curfew or police curfew. I pointed out this to the Health Minister. The Health Minister then said that she had issued a gazette notification regarding these issues.”

MP Sumanthiran said that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, on a representation made by him, had written to the government saying that imposition of some regulations without proper backing of statutes was unlawful. “This could be rectified and all the government needs to do is bring in new laws so the officials fighting against the pandemic are protected by the law and the government can do things lawfully.

“It is a known fact that there is community spread and it can be denied, but from what’s happening around us we have every reason to believe that the situation is rather grim. It’s also unfortunate that the members of the government ranks are using the situation to score political points by congratulating the President and the fair minister.”

The MP said that the question was not how well the government had performed; the question was there was a serious issue that needed to be addressed.

He also urged the Health Minister to look into the issue of lack of facilities at the Maradankerny Hospital as it had been brought to his notice that it lacked basic facilities such as water and sanitary facilities.

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