Rampant consumption of illicit liquor reflected in decrease in health indicators

By Saman Indrajith

SJB Galle District MP Gayantha Karunatilleka told Parliament Tuesday that the main reason for the country’s health indicators going down was the increase in consumption of illicit liquor.

Participating in the third reading debate on Budget 2022 under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Health, MP Karunatilleka observed that there was a correlation between the increases in the public consumption of illicit liquor and the decrease in health indicators.

The MP said that the consumption of illicit liquor by Sri Lankans had increased by 300 percent during the recent past. The World Health Organisation’s recent statistics prepared on the basis of sales records and other statistical records available to them from authoritative channels indicated that there was a 95 percent increase in liquor consumption annually by Sri Lankans. Compared to that 95 percent, other countries, which had been recognised as high liquor consuming nations, had recorded only a 55 percent annual increase. The comparison showed that the country was in a serious situation and the government should take action to arrest that trend immediately, the MP said.

The MP pointed out that “the illicit liquor had not only been the cause of making people ill but also the reason for the government losing its tax revenue. With the intention of regulating and preparing national policies against the illicit liquor industry, the National Tobacco and Alcohol Authority was set up in 2006, but there hasn’t yet been a comprehensive national level survey or census on liquor consumption been done, covering the entire country,” MP Karunatilleka said.