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Domestic purchases to help ease pharma deficit
Hospitals have been instructed to buy pharmaceuticals locally to overcome the islandwide shortage, an official of the Ministry of Health (MoH) said.
Rs.1 billion has been allocated by the Treasury for this month to buy drugs needed at the Apeksha Hospital (Maharagama Cancer Hospital).
“We are hoping to import the essential drugs in about two weeks,” he said.
Available supplies would be enough until February depending on the use, moreover the MoH also has to settle a loan of Rs 8 billion, he said.
The drug shortage could be resolved through the budget, he believes.
“The issue faced by us this year was that the requirement of the MoH was greater than their allocation,” the general manager of State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), Dinusha Dassanayake, said.
According to him, a letter of credit is being processed for the Rs 1 billion allocation.
Mr. Dassanayake said that out of the 24 drugs that are in short supply, eight have been imported.
“The current requirement can be fulfilled. But the procedure is going to take some time depending on the time taken to process the letter of credit and the shipment,” he said.
The Medical Supplies Division (MSD) said recommendations have been made to the MoH to grant the MSD with the power to make emergency purchases.
“Currently only the SPC has the power to purchase drugs. But when they are faced with practical difficulties like the delay of shipments, or issues with quality, it automatically creates a shortage, but if MSD is given the power of making emergency purchases, the drug shortage can be controlled to some extent,” the director of MSD Dr. Kapila Wickramanayake said.
He said 10 more drugs are expected to arrive in the island by next week.