24 July 2023 09:12 pm Views - 1120
The allegations of inferior quality medicines being used cannot be accepted as there is no official definition to rate any medicine as of inferior quality, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella said.
The Minister made this remark at the meeting of the Consultative Committee on Health held at the Parliamentary complex.
The Minister also revealed that the drug which caused the death of a young woman at the Peradeniya Hospital has been used on 12 other patients in the same ward.
“Some 167,000 vials of the particular medicine have been used by various hospitals within this year. This medicine was registered in Sri Lanka in October 2013,” he said.
He added that there is no definition under which a medicine can be rated as of inferior quality.
The officials of the Health Ministry who attended the meeting said patients would have died as a result of a medicine shortage if purchases were not made. Also they said 80 percent of the drugs are imported to Sri Lanka from India even after the time of the credit lines have lapsed.
Responding to a query by MP Tissa Vitharana as to whether Sri Lanka follows the pharmaceutical policy of Professor Senaka Bibile, Minister Rambukwella said the government follows that policy. MP Vitharana then noted that the government should call for tenders to purchase medicines which the country needs annually straight away rather than calling for tenders several times during the year.
Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, State Ministers Dayana Gamage, Sisira Jayakody, Siripala Gamlath, MPs Samanpriya Herath, Tissa Kuttiarachchi, Sahan Pradeep Withana, Dr. Gayashan Nawananda, M.H.A. Haleem and Samapth Athukorala also attended the meeting. (Yohan Perera)