The Committee on Parliamentary Business has given dates to take up the debate on the no-confidence motion (NCM) against Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella which was tabled by the main Parliamentary Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) with the support of other Opposition Parliamentarians.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (30), SJB MP Dr. Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana, who led the SJB committee to look into issues in the health sector, said that a three-day debate will be held on 6, 7, and 8 September on the no-confidence motion. He also said that the Parliamentary Business Committee has given the aforementioned dates to take up the motion in Parliament.

The motion has been signed by 45 MPs led by Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa. It has been signed by MPs representing several different Opposition parties such as the SJB, the National People’s Power, the Tamil National People’s Front, and the Freedom People’s Congress. Opposition MPs Patali Champika Ranawaka and Kumara Welgama 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 “sorrowful incidents that are reported from hospitals day by day are deaths and impairments caused due to the use of drugs which are either substandard or are low in quality,” it further claims.

The calls for action against Rambukwella come in the wake of several suspicious deaths and lifelong injuries caused to patients who were treated in State hospitals, and their possible links to substandard drugs. The health sector has also been plagued with multiple crises with many key instruments and scanning devices needed for analysis being out of action due to unpaid contracts for maintenance work. Rambukwella, for his part, has denied any wrongdoing, stressing that he has been seeking funds from the Treasury to make payments for the relevant contracts.