Health Ministry: From tragedy to farce

All eyes were on the critical Health Ministry portfolio during the Cabinet reshuffle this week, as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps through the island, crippling the healthcare sector and claiming over a hundred lives every day. Former Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi was moved to the Ministry of Transport and was replaced by former Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. Naturally, the shuffle led to both mockery and outrage.

Needless to say, the question of who holds the Health Portfolio has become a matter of life and death for Sri Lankans. To meet the challenges of the pandemic, the Health Ministry needs to be assigned specific tasks and staffed by numerous layers of professionals, should be able to function with minimum interference with the political authorities.

The political head of such an important ministry can set the tone for its performance and be a symbol to the general public about the level of confidence it can place in the establishment. In this respect, the former Minister of Health was an abysmal failure. She initially dismissed the threat from COVID-19, ridiculed the Opposition suggestion of a mask mandate, enthusiastically endorsed a witch-doctor’s concoction and eventually contracted the disease herself. With her track record, there was almost no argument that a replacement was due, if for no other reason but to garner some level of public confidence in the ruling administration’s efforts to fight the pandemic.

President Rajapaksa had a unique opportunity to regain lost ground by appointing a minister who could win back the people’s confidence and the trust and respect of medical professionals. He did not even have to look too far. His own State Minister for COVID-19 Control Sudharshini Fernandopulle is a medical professional, specialised in community medicine and preventing the spread of communicable diseases. In a country notorious for returning sparsely educated representatives to elected office, it was no small stroke of luck to have such a manifestly qualified professional in the Government ranks. Instead, President Rajapaksa made another political decision with regard to the appointment of his new health minister – the person who will now be tasked with leading the country out of this latest deadly wave of the pandemic.

Minister Keheliya Rambukwella is a genial politician with a penchant for glib retorts before the microphone. His previous records as Cabinet minister have been insignificant at best. He is best known for his time as Media Minister, when he would provide entertainingly ridiculous sound bites to defend the actions of his Government, when it was failing its people the first time around in 2005-2015. 

Minister Rambukwella is a seasoned politician with a powerful political base, but he possesses no attribute that would inspire public confidence in the health sector during this grim season. The Minister has no medical background that makes him worthy of the health portfolio when the country is facing an existential public health crisis. Just last week he proclaimed that all the Government could do was to vaccinate the people, “but the rest is up to god,” even as 150 Sri Lankans perish every day from the virus. Sri Lanka needs much more than political leadership that would leave its fate in the hands of divine powers in this critical moment. The challenges facing us are enormous. The healthcare system is on the brink of collapse from strain. Death and disease are at the door. This was a moment when the tiniest signal that the Government was taking the crisis seriously would have been a most welcome development. Instead, all the recent Cabinet reshuffle achieved was some comic relief.