Rajitha  Justifies Utilizing  Rs 10 Million From President’s Fund

The Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne  came under fire last week for taking Rs. 10 million from the President’s fund, when an ordinary citizen was only granted funding assistance of Rs. 150,000 for similar ailments.

Annoyed Minister Rajitha justified his decision to take Rs. 10 million from the President’s fund for his medical treatment in Singapore stressing,  that he was not the “only one” to do so. He said thus ‘’ “I am not the only one who has taken money  from the fund; there are a lot of other MPs who have taken money from the fund. There are many other special people who were given money for the same treatment’’ .

Further he said, that he was taken to Singapore for treatment on the insistence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramesinghe and the funding assistance was  given at the discretion of the President of the country and “special” people such as artists and intellectuals had been given special consideration in granting money s from the Presidents fund . In addition  there was security risks for his life  involved in undergoing treatment through the Sri Lankan healthcare system.