Sri Lanka's Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine Pavithra Wanniarachchi yesterday said the statement made by the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the television and newspapers that the World Health Organization (WHO)has given the Ministry of Health $ 230 million for COVID-19 operations is totally false.

Addressing the media, Minister Wanniarachchi said the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided approximately US$ 1.9 million for the prevention of the p COVID-1andemic 9. Sri Lanka has received US$ 466,784 from the WHO office in Sri Lanka and the balance US$ 1,468,000 from the WHO SEARO in India.

AS of June 5, US$ 855,869 was spent through the Sri Lanka Office of the World Health Organization on the COVID-19 program implemented by the Ministry of Health.

The Minister added that all these expenses had been made by the WHO Resident Office in Sri Lanka and not by the Ministry of Health.

The Health Minister noted that out of the US$ 855,869 spent by the country's WHO Resident Office, US$ 686,716 was spent to provide laboratory testing equipment and other medical equipment, US$ 79,915 to strengthen disease surveillance, and US$ 89,238 to educate the public.

She said the World Health Organization has agreed to provide a balance of US$ 1,078,915 to the future COVID-19 eradication program in Sri Lanka.

The WHO Country Office in Sri Lanka has retained two (2) million euro (US$ 2.27 million) to support the Sri Lankan health sector until December 2021, the Minister sad.

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