In the background of intense discussion regarding the educational qualifications of the speaker of the Parliament, Ashoka Ranwala, a series of posts have been created regarding the medical degree of the Minister of Health and Mass Media, and the Cabinet Media Spokesperson, Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa. So, we decided to do a fact check regarding that.
Social Media Posts:
This is how a social media post was circulated claiming that the Minister of Health and Mass Media, Cabinet Media Spokesperson, Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa is a veterinarian.
Many similar posts were circulated regarding that.
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Here’s how we investigated regarding this.
Fact Check
Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa was elected to the Parliament this year by representing the Kaluthara district with the highest number of votes of 371,640. He is the current government’s minister of Health and Mass Media and the Cabinet Media Spokesperson. He is also the chief organizer of the ruling party.
As his educational qualification, the Parliament website states that he holds a medical degree.
His social media accounts also state as Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa.
Since the Sri Lanka Medical Council maintains the records of qualified people to work in the field, we checked whether the information of Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa as a government registered doctor is included.
Accordingly, the information states that Minister Nalinda Jayatissa was registered as a government doctor on 04.09.2006 under the registration number 21353 of the Sri Lanka Medical Council. It is also clearly stated that he is a medical graduate of the University of Sri Jayawardenepura.
According to the information of the Sri Lanka Medical Council, its name is mentioned as Walakada Appuhamilage Nalinda Jayatissa. Since we constantly hear the name Nalinda Jayatissa, we also checked whether Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa’s surname is as mentioned above.
The name is mentioned in the information of Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa on the Wikipedia website. It is stated that he will be participating in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties in 2023, representing the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. His full name is mentioned there as Dr. Nalinda Wajiramal Jayatissa Walakada Appuhamilage.
Accordingly, it is clear that the information mentioned in the Sri Lanka Medical Council is the information regarding Minister Nalinda Jayatissa.
According to the information in the Sri Lanka Medical Council, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa has obtained the medical degree from Sri Jayawardenepura University. However, the social media posts suggest that he is a veterinarian. Accordingly, we inquired whether the Sri Jayawardenepura University offers a veterinarian degree and we got to know that they do not offer such a degree.
The faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of Peradeniya University is the only higher education institute in Sri Lanka that trains veterinarians and if Minister Nalinda Jayatissa is a veterinarian, he should have obtained his degree from Peradeniya University. However, it is clear from the information in the Sri Lanka Medical Council that he has obtained his degree from Sri Jayawardenepura University.
In this regard, Mrs. Sachie Panawala, the additional chief innovation officer of the National Innovation Agency, who has experience in the field of veterinary medicine, had also posted a note on her Facebook account. Her LinkedIn account is here.
Furthermore, we drew attention to the comments made in the notes that mentioned Minister Nalinda Jayatissa as a veterinarian, and in some comments, it was mentioned that he is a graduate of Jayawardenepura University and that he is a doctor.
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Minister Nalinda Jayatissa
We inquired about this from Minister Nalinda Jayatissa and he mentioned that he is a graduate from Sri Jayawardenepura University and that he worked in the Teaching hospital Batticaloa.
Here is an instance that he mentioned that he worked in Batticaloa during the war time in Sri Lanka.
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Conclusion
Accordingly, it is clear that Minister Nalinda Jayatissa is a registered doctor at the Sri Lanka Medical Council and that he has obtained his Bachelor of Medicine Degree from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura.
