President's Office says reports that Dissanayake was hospitalised are false

The President’s Office has rejected as false reports circulating on social media that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was admitted to a private hospital after a sudden illness, and has asked the public not to share unverified claims.

The denial was issued by the President’s Media Division (PMD) on Saturday (24) and reported by Hiru News.

The statement

Hiru published the PMD’s own post, which carries the statement in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The English text reads:

“The President’s Office has confirmed that reports circulating on social media claiming that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was admitted to a private hospital due to a sudden illness are false.

The public is urged not to be misled by such false information and to refrain from sharing unverified reports without first confirming them through official sources.”

The statement was headed “Reports Claiming President Was Admitted to a Private Hospital Due to Sudden Illness Are False”.

Context

The President’s Office did not say where the claim originated, how widely it had spread, or whether any action would follow. It gave no separate account of the President’s engagements or health.

This is not the first health-related claim about a public figure the authorities have moved to correct this month. In mid-October police publicly debunked a video circulating during the march for Gnanasara Thera’s release.

Readers are reminded that announcements about the President’s movements and health are issued through the President’s Media Division and the President’s Office.

Sourcing note

Hiru News is the only verified newsroom to have filed on the denial at the time of writing. The aggregator Newswire also carried it; aggregators do not count toward this site’s credibility index. The wording quoted above is taken directly from the President’s Media Division’s own published statement rather than from a translation.