Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa Announces Appointment of District Health Coordination Officers
The Ministry of Health and Mass Media, under the leadership of Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, has focused its attention on strengthening district-level coordination of health services in order to provide more efficient preventive and curative healthcare services to the public and to minimize shortcomings within the healthcare system.
Accordingly, a Cabinet paper recently submitted by the Minister to appoint a group of Members of Parliament as “District Coordination Officers” covering all districts in the country has now received Cabinet approval.
The primary objective of this initiative is to improve coordination between healthcare institutions operated under the central government and those managed by Provincial Councils, thereby enhancing the efficiency of public healthcare services.
The Minister pointed out that under the previous system, there were practical difficulties in properly identifying local health issues and integrating them into national healthcare plans.
The proposed duties and responsibilities of the appointed District Coordination Officers include:
- Identifying district-level healthcare needs and prioritizing them with public participation
- Assisting in integrating those needs into national and provincial health plans
- Strengthening efficient use of resources and improving coordination between sectoral and provincial healthcare institutions
- Coordinating the implementation of regional development programmes in line with ministry policies
- Identifying priority projects and recommending them to the ministry
- Monitoring the progress of ongoing projects and supporting their successful completion within the specified timeframe
The Minister further stated that Sri Lanka’s healthcare system currently operates under a dual administrative structure, consisting of hospitals and healthcare institutions under line ministries as well as those under Provincial Councils.
Although healthcare services are being provided through this system, problems such as lack of district-level coordination, inefficient use of resources, and failure to adequately reflect local needs in national programmes have emerged due to separate administrative structures.
The following Members of Parliament have been proposed as District Coordination Officers for the respective districts:
- Anuradhapura – Susantha Kumara Navaratne
- Badulla – Ravindra Bandara
- Batticaloa – Kandasamy Prabhu
- Colombo – Najith Indika
- Ampara – M. M. Sugath Ratnayake
- Galle – Nishantha Samaraweera
- Gampaha – Dharmapriya Wijesinghe
- Hambantota – Satharuwan Madarasinghe
- Jaffna – S. Sri Bhavanandarajah
- Kegalle – R. M. Samantha Ranasinghe
- Kalutara – Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe
- Kandy – Danura Dissanayake
- Kurunegala – Dr. Jagath Gunawardena
- Matale – Deepthi Niranjani Wasalage
- Matara – Lal Premanath
- Monaragala – H. M. Sarath Kumara
- Nuwara Eliya – T. Bandara
- Puttalam – Gayan Janaka
- Ratnapura – Dr. Janaka Senarathna
- Trincomalee – Roshan Akmeemana
- Vanni – Selvathambi Thilakanathan
The Ministry stated that the main objective of this new system is to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare services provided to the public across Sri Lanka.
