News

Specialists take their fuel woes to Health Ministry Secretary

Published

4 years ago

2022/04/18

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Many medical specialists were finding it difficult to report to work due to severe shortage of fuel, President of the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) Dr. LakKumar Fernando said yesterday.

He said AMS had sent a letter on the difficult issue to Health Ministry Secretary Dr. S.H. Munasinghe on Saturday.

“This is more so in the peripheries where certain cities have not had fuel in their localities for many days. This situation is likely to deteriorate in the coming days,” Dr. Fernando said.

It is not possible for doctors to enter gas stations with special permits when there are so many others in queues. People who have been waiting in queues for hours naturally get angry and tense when preferential treatment is given to anyone, Dr. Fernando said.

“Such situations can lead to public unrest creating further chaos. Along with the multitude of other essential services in our country, we feel that healthcare service providers should also be considered as a high priority regarding access to fuel during this crisis. Therefore, we strongly feel that the responsibility of devising a practical, plausible mechanism to facilitate our members to get a quota of fuel to travel to his/her workplace lies with the Ministry of health. Please consider that it will be a must to provide and ensure an uninterrupted healthcare service throughout the country,” Dr. Fernando said.

The AMS President informed the Health Ministry Secretary that until such a mechanism is established, AMS members will be compelled to inform their respective hospital directors about their inability to attend needy patients physically and to provide telephone or online advice/consultation when required purely due to lack of fuel to report to work.

“Even though this is highly unacceptable in any clinical setting, we don’t see any other practical alternative to this problem in the near future. Further, it is important to note that most of the hospitals in our country have not been able to provide onsite, official accommodation to all specialist medical officers and hence they are compelled to reside away from the hospital,” he said.

The AMS also asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Health to grant them an appointment to discuss this issue.

“This is not an attempt to ‘misuse’ our position but an effort to mitigate a crisis in order to save lives of patients as well as the good name of the national health care delivery system. Failure to address this issue on an urgent basis would compel us to discharge us from clinical responsibilities due to constraints beyond our control. Please treat this matter on an urgent basis,” he said.

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Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations

Published

10 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

Suresh Sallay

The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.

Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.

The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses

will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”

In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125

News

Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area

Published

10 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.

The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.

News

Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.

Published

10 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.

Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.

The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.

The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.