Outgoing health minister bids emotional farewell; says didn’t see reshuffle coming

Glocal
By Editor_1
Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi with Sri Lanka’s firs COVID-19 patient, a Chinese tourist, post-recovery in March 2020 – economyenxt.com
0

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s outgoing health minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said she was surprised by the snap cabinet reshuffle that saw her replaced with minister Keheliya Rambukwella Monday (16).

In a seemingly emotional farewell speech to officials at the Ministry of Health on Monday, Wanniarachchi said though she does feel disappointed, she will take the decision in stride.

Wanniarachchi’s was among seven key portfolios that were swapped between senior government ministers on Monday.

“I didn’t think this change would happen suddenly,” Wanniarachchi said,  adding that she had been reassured by two ministry officials that very morning that she would not lose the portfolio.

In a lighter vein, she said: “I don’t think any of you thought ‘it would be great if this woman was gotten rid of” when I first came here.”

Wanniarachchi, who has been seeing the health ministry through Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 crisis, has been out of the limelight in recent months, with opposition members calling for the appointment of State Minister for COVID Control, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle, as health minister instead. COVID-19 in Sri Lanka has taken a turn for the worse in recent months, with daily deaths and case numbers surging and hospitals running out of capacity.

Rambukwella, meanwhile, went on record saying last week that the government will continue to fulfill its responsibility in vaccinating the population against COVID-19 and that the rest is “in God’s hands”.

Out of Sri Lanka’s population of 21.5, 11.8 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, but the delta variant continues to spread island-wide.

“But in an unexpected moment, I have been given the ministry of transport in place of health. Until I went [to the presidential secretariat], I didn’t know this was happening,” Wanniarachchi lamented, but said somewhat pragmatically, “One must accept everything in life happily.”

Drawing from a parable about a king whose life was saved thanks to a finger he had lost in an accident, she said, “Everything happens for a reason. There is nothing else to do.”

Acknowledging that there is a sense of sadness, Wanniarachchi requested health ministry officials to extend the same support to the new minister they had given her through her tenure.

“We have about four weeks left. So far 54% of first dose vaccinations is complete. If we can bring second dose vaccination to 54% in four weeks, we can save this country,” she added.

-economynext.com

 

 

Editor_1
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