SLPP MPs Milan Jayathilake and Madura Withanage had opposed a proposal made by State Minister for Tourism Diana Gamage to regulate spas in the country.
The State Minister has submitted the proposal to the President at the ruling party parliamentary group meeting held last Monday.
“Mr. President, there are endless spas in and around Colombo and everywhere else in the country. We need to regulate these,” said State Minister Gamage.
Objecting to the proposal, Milan and Madura said, “No… No… Mr. President, don’t do such a thing at this moment. People will lose their jobs. It can lead to a major issue.”
However, Diana retorted, “Look, Mr. President, there are 625 spas around Parliament.”
She has also requested to appoint an Ayurvedic doctor to each ‘spa’ in order to improve the quality of their services.
Responding to the suggestion, Indigenous Medicine State Minister Sisira Jayakody has said that doctors are not needed for spas and that they are being operated by trained staff members.
The President has slowly joined this debate by saying, “Even our MPs can go…right?“
However, he has also told Diana that closing spas could cost thousands of jobs.
It was reported that the President has avoided this dispute by saying that there is no need to create unnecessary issues.
