Medical professionals call for national emergency over health crisis

• Some officers prostituting Indian Credit Line  
• government is  treating the situation as a trivial matter, where they wish to offer  monetary compensation for the loss of lives

By Kalani Kumarasinghe   

A national emergency should be declared by the government  with the increasing number of deaths due to drug-related complications,  President of the Government Medical Officers’ Forum (GMOF) Dr. Rukshan  Bellana said.  
“There is a doubt that substandard medicines have been  imported through the Indian Credit Line,” he said. Dr. Bellana said that  the Cabinet of Ministers must convene and discuss how to address this  issue, he opined.  

“Together with other professional bodies in the health  sector, the GMOF intends to hand over a letter to the Indian government,  through the Indian High Commission in Colombo,” Dr. Bellana said.  

The senior medical administrator charged that the credit  line, which has to be repaid with public funds, has gone to waste. “This  is a crime. Some officers have determined that the Indian Credit line  can be prostituted. Their wish is to import substandard drugs, while  living their own luxurious lives,” he charged.  

Dr. Bellana likened the health situation in Sri Lanka to  terrorist attacks by the LTTE during the civil war. “This is an  emergency. It’s like bombs have been planted across the island, which  can blast at any minute,” he said. He charged that the government is  treating the situation as a trivial matter, where they wish to offer  monetary compensation for the loss of lives.