The Ministry of Health played a significant role in the people during the first wave of the Covid epidemic. Its main character was Dr. Anil Jasinghe, the former Director General of Health. He interacted with the media, appeared directly in front of the media and gave the people the guidance they needed.
But he was suddenly transferred to another ministry. On August 13, 2020, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, who was the Director General of Health, was removed from the Ministry of Health and appointed as the Secretary to the Ministry of Environment. Since then, Dr. Sridharan has been the Director General of Health.
The government had not been able to appoint a permanent official to the post until a few weeks after the start of the second Covid wave. Against this backdrop, relations between the Ministry of Health and the media were eroding. No one in the Ministry of Health was able to fill the void left by Dr. Anil Jasinghe.
Meanwhile, the government had recently taken steps to appoint Dr. Asela Gunawardena, former Director of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, as the Director General of Health. He has been with the Senior Medical Administration Service since 2003 and was also the Acting Director of Ridgeway Children’s Hospital, Colombo.
Speaking about his position, Dr. Asela Gunawardena said that the vacancy in the Ministry of Health could be filled and that there was no problem but it would take some time. He says that he is not Anil Jasinghe and that he is Asela Gunawardena, so do not expect everything that was expected from Anil Jasinghe. He says he is ready to deal with the media and that is within his scope.