Corruption

90% of Itukama Fund spent on settling Health Ministry bills

JF Rifdhi AliOctober 22, 20221 Mins read935 Views

Close to 90 per cent of the ‘Itukama – Covid 19 Health and Social Security Fund’ (Rs 1.8 billion) was spent on settling bills accrued
by the Health Ministry, a Right to Information (RTI) request revealed.

This Fund had received a total of Rs 2,207,164,785.58 in donations.

Out of this sum, Rs 1,997,569,456.56 had been used to providing facilities for PCR tests, awareness programmes, quarantine
activities, the national vaccination programme, and purchase of beds for ICU and settlement of bills accrued by Health Ministry.

Rs 209,595,329.02 had been recorded as the balance in the fund after all the expenses.

The fund was established by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for Covid-19 and related social welfare projects on 23 March 2020. The Cabinet, chaired by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, took a decision to wind up the operations of this fund on Monday (17)

Meanwhile, the President’s Media Unit said that as of 18 October 2022, the sum remaining in the Covid Fund, has been credited to
the President’s Fund to provide for surgery and medical assistance.

Itukama Fund was established with a donation of 100 million rupees from the President’s Fund.

Meanwhile, the ‘Covid-19 Health and Social Security Fund’ at the Bank of Ceylon, account number 85737373 has been closed
effective from 18 October, the President’s Media Division said and requested the public not to donate to this fund from now on.

By Rifthi Ali

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Written by

JF Rifdhi Ali

Rifthi Ali is an award winning journalist with 15 years of experience in print, digital and new media. He is the chief editor of vidyal.lk which is one of the leading Tamil news website in Sri Lanka, since 2014. Also, he writes for Ceylon Today, Vidivelli and Thamilan newspapers. Rifthi Ali is interested in electoral reforms, Right to Information (RTI) reporting, fact checking, environmental reporting and investigative journalism. He won the Prof. K. Kalasapathy Award for Reporting under Special Circumstances – 2020 in Journalism Awards for Excellence which was conducted by Sri Lanka Press Institute and Editors Guild of Sri Lanka. Also, Rifthi Ali has been recognized for his reporting by National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) under the initiative of "Revolution for freedom - A country free of alcohol". He completed his Diploma in Journalism at Sri Lanka College of Journalism. Also, he graduated from Gaylord College for Journalism and Mass Communication in University of Oklahoma, United States and Queensland University of Technology in Australia on media related programmes. He was a participant of the Study of the United States Institutes (SUSI) for Scholars conducted by the U.S. Department of State. Rifthi Ali trained more than 500 youths and journalists on media ethics, media literacy, fact checking, awareness on RTI and investigative journalism