President calls for transparency in drug distribution

• Urges overhaul of NMRA  
• Retirement age of doctors extended to 63 
• websites managed by the Health Ministry to provide  up-to-date information on the availability of drugs

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.