15 July 2023 12:00 am Views - 67
By Sheain Fernandopulle
President Ranil Wickremesinghe in a special meeting with Health Minister, senior health ministry officials and other stakeholders stressed that the Health Ministry must ensure there is no delay in people getting medicinal drugs and transparency is required for all available drugs in Sri Lanka.
During the meeting, President Wickremesinghe directed the Health Ministry to expedite the approval process for drugs endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Accordingly, the President informed Health Ministry officials to look into the possibility of directly ordering FDA and UK-approved drugs without going through the process of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA).
Meanwhile, President Wickremesinghe proposed the establishment of websites managed by the Health Ministry to provide up-to-date information on the availability of drugs in Sri Lanka, including specific quantities in each hospital, which will be updated daily. To streamline drug distribution, a networking system will be implemented to facilitate the transfer of drugs between hospitals, bypassing bureaucratic hurdles.
The President also discussed the proceedings of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) during the meeting with the Health Minister and officials. It was revealed that the NMRA had not submitted reports on its activities since its inception, except for the first year in 2015.
As such, the effectiveness and necessity of the NMRA were questioned, with suggestions made to either justify or repeal it. A team of experts, including a Treasury Member, was appointed to assess the NMRA’s activities and provide recommendations within two weeks.
Furthermore, President Wickremesinghe also instructed the Health Minister and officials to extend the retirement age for doctors to 63 years till the end of 2024 and for other special cases as per the requirement of the Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Treasury Operations Mr. H.C.D.L. Silva said that according to the outstanding bills over the past two months, sent by the Ministry of Health, out of that 14 billion, around 10.5 billion are for medical supplies. “So definitely we will be able to address that. More than two-month bills under the category of medical supplies within this month, it is around 10.5 billion. So we will provide money to the MOH,” he added.
This meeting was convened in a backdrop where the health sector is engulfed in a spate of issues regarding drugs shortage and doctors, procurement of medicines, quality of drugs, recent deaths of patients at hospitals etc.