Dr. Palitha Mahipala is one of the distinguished figures with an extensive academic background and a wealth of experience in medical administration. He has worked in different positions in the Ministry of Health with several international positions.
He started health Syste reforms in 2024 to uplift the National Health System to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030 together with achieving SGD goals by 2030. He had a vision to improve the quality of health services by reforming the National Health system.
His vision of Healthcare Reforms in Sri Lanka-2024 included all island primary healthcare reforms for 1061 primary healthcare institutions, establishing the Global Health Diplomacy Bureau, Health Planning Bureau, Health Information Bureau, Patient Safety and Accreditation Bureau for the Ministry of Health, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Secretariat for Confidential Enquiries on Maternal Deaths and Severe Maternal Morbidity in Sri Lanka, National Heart Centre of Excellence at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and developing care packages for common diseases in different service levels to improve lives of Sri Lankan people.
Those are major reforms out of many other reforms. it’s really sad and lost to the country, he resigned from the post before seeing the final results of these reforms. His guidance and leadership are essential to the country for implementing these reforms in a structured and effective manner.
I have witnessed many high-level meetings in the treasury. They highlighted that “the Ministry of Health has a leader with vision after many years ”. Further to that, the 2025 health budget presentation of the Ministry of Health to the treasury, Dr. Mahipala presented and justified every cent of the money that the MoH requested for the year 2025. The treasury was very happy and said that after many years, they listened to a justifiable and cost-effective budget presentation from the Ministry of Health.
Every day Dr Mahipala worked from 6.30 am to 10.00 pm in the night. He worked for the Secretary post voluntarily.
The National Health System missed his guidance and leadership at this reform initiative stage.
We all appreciate your leadership in these health system reforms. All the best Sir.
Janaki Vidanapathirana
MBBS, MSC, MD (Community Medicine)
