Govt. spending Billions to keep Lanka COVID-19 free - Army Commander

The Government is spending billions of rupees to keep Sri Lanka COVID-19 free without any external borrowings, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Chairman, Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva told the Daily News yesterday.

The Army Chief also said he was unable to quantify an amount and that was the function of the Treasury to determine the amount. He said the Modus Operandi was for the Tri-Forces to spend the funds and send the Invoices to the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry in turn, sends the invoices to the Treasury for reimbursement.

He said the Government was continuing with the repatriation programme and with the inbound arrivals programme despite there being a large number of returnees from Kuwait and a large number of Navy personnel who had been affected by the COVID-19 virus.

The Army Chief and the Chief of Defence Staff also debunked rumours that the Government was doing to stop the repatriation programme due to 160 Sri Lankan expatriates returning from Kuwait being infected.

Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe said expenses were running into billions which were due to upgrade and maintenance of facilities in hospitals, health maintenance of health systems, expenditure for PCR testing, contact tracing and quarantining and a host of other services.

“We have provided PPEs (Personal Protection Equipment) to many hospitals used to house COVID-19 patients, he said. We will definitely take precautions in the light of a large number of members of the Sri Lanka Navy being infected by Covid – 19, he said.

Meanwhile, the Itukama Fund has also contributed Rs. 100 Million to the Health Ministry for the prevention of Covid 19.

 

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