My int’l achievements ignored: President

29 April 2015 05:26 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 46 Bookmark

A A A

President Maithripala Sirisena said today that during his tenure as Health Minister, he received two awards -- one from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the other from the University of Harvard – but they were not acknowledged by the previous regime.

“About a month ago, the Excise Department of Excise sent me a report stating that 326 outlets selling tobacco and alcohol without confirming to the necessary guidelines. I submitted a motion recommending that these outlets be closed. In the wake of my recommendation, the Treasury informed me of the difficulty to meet budgetary targets if these outlets were closed down. As far as I can remember, the Treasury earns more than Rs.60 billion as revenue from the sale tobacco and another Rs.55 billion from the sale of alcohol. So this is the current situation,” the President said.

He made these observations at the inauguration of the National Summit on Tobacco titled, Towards a Tobacco-Free Sri Lanka. It was organised by NATA and WHO with the assistance of the Health Ministry and ADIC. Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala De Silva were also present at the ceremony.

The President said that though he had done his best to maximize the control of tobacco and alcohol use during the past five years, he had received little or no support from the leaders of the previous regime.

“We need to make schoolchildren and the people aware of the dangers of tobacco and alcohol use so that they could be rescued from the clutches of these vices,” he said. (Kamanthi Wickramasinghe)