The Sri Lankan Team

Ravindra Rannan-Eliya
Co-applicant

Dr. Ravindra P. Rannan-Eliya is Executive Director & Fellow of the Institute of Health Policy (IHP). He has expertise in a number of areas relating to health systems equity, health financing and policy, social protection and public expenditure analysis, with research, consulting and field experience in UK, Serbia, Turkey, Kyrgyz Republic, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mongolia, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Bolivia, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia.

He is a leading international expert in health expenditure estimation and projection methods and health accounts systems, collaborating extensively with WHO, World Bank, OECD and Eurostat and has been lead analyst of several assessments of pension and social security schemes in Sri Lanka, and currently leading team designing new pension scheme for informal workers. He has extensive experience in design and analysis of large household and health care provider surveys, in a diverse range of settings (Africa, Asia, Latin America). His doctoral work from Harvard University USA focused on research on developing comparable indicators of trends in productivity of public sector health delivery systems.

Shanti Dalpatadu
Researcher

Dr. Dalpatadu joined the Institute for Health Policy (IHP) in June 2005, after 33 years of service in the government health sector and two years with WHO. He is a retired senior medical administrator, who has worked in various capacities in the Curative, Preventive and Administrative sectors in the Health Ministry and was the Deputy General of Health Services (Planning) for 8 years up to the time of his retirement. He served in the Medical Administrative grade for 16 years.

He is a Board Certified Consultant in Community Medicine and has obtained the MD in Community Medicine in 1981 from the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine in Sri Lanka. He is also a Fellow of the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka. He has specialized skills in Health Care Management & Community Health. He also has training in areas of Hospital & Health Administration (UK), Health Planning & Management (USA), Health Care Evaluation (Canada), Human Resource Development (Australia), and Health Sector Reforms (USA) Burden of Disease & Health Systems Performance (South Africa).

He has been a Short Term Consultant, Short Term Professional, as well as a Temporary Advisor for WHO South East Asia Office, in the areas of Human Resource Development, Public Health Administration and Evidence for Health Policy & Health Care Financing. He has also been a national consultant in Sri Lanka for several projects.

He has conducted research studies in Sri Lanka, and was a member of the WHO /South East Asia Advisory Committee on Health Research (ACHR). He is a supervisor for research thesis for MD Community Medicine trainees and an examiner for MSc, MD courses in Medical Administration & Community Medicine. He is also a member of the Board of Studies for Medical Administrators & Community Medicine.

During his tenure as DDG (Planning) in the Ministry of Health (MOH), he was the chairman of the health expenditure survey committee which was responsible for supervising and monitoring the development of Sri Lanka National health accounts. He has played a lead role in many of the planning and evaluation of health activities of the MOH. He has functioned as Secretary to a number of high-level policy formulation implementation councils and committees of the MOH, such as the National Health Council, the National Health Development Committee, Health Development Committee and the Ministry of Health Advisory Committee.He has considerable experience in formulation of National Health Policies & Plans as he has been closely involved in these activities for the Ministry of Health from 1992 to 2002.

Sarath Samarage
Researcher

Dr. Sarath Samarage joined the Institute for Health Policy as a Senior Fellow in April 2016, after serving as a National Consultant at the World Health Organization Country Office, Sri Lanka for six years. He is a Consultant Community Physician, and held the posts of Director Organization Development and Deputy Director General of Health Services (Planning) in the Ministry of Health prior to his retirement in 2010 after serving 32 years in different parts of the country.

Dr. Samarage holds a MPH (International Health) degree from the John Hopkins University, USA and a Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Community Medicine from the Post-Graduate Institute of Medicine in Sri Lanka. He is a Senior Fellow of the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo and has served in the Boards of Study in Community Medicine and Medical Administration. He has been conferred with the fellowships of the College of Community Physicians and the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka for his outstanding contributions to the fields of Community Medicine and Medical Administration.

Dr Samarage is a Past President of the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka. He also serves as the country focal point for the Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH) and the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Chapter of the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA). He is the Commander of the St.John Ambulance Association & Brigade of Sri Lanka. He is a Council Member of the Independent Medical Practitioners Association. Dr Samarage’s research interests are in the areas of Health Systems Development, Primary Health Care, Human Resources Development, and Health Policy & Planning.

Nilmini Wijemanne
Researcher

Nilmini is a Research Associate at the Institute for Health Policy (IHP). Nilmini holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (Hons) and Bachelor of Medical Science from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Public Health from the University of Sydney. She previously worked as a doctor in Melbourne and Brisbane and as a Research Assistant at the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health Sri Lanka during 2006-2007. She has experience in analyzing non-communicable disease policy, healthcare utilization, disease-specific health accounts and quality of healthcare, particularly in low and middle-income countries.