The shortage of medicines in Sri Lanka is worse than when former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukkella held office, says Specialist Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, Chairman of the Doctors’ Union for Civil Rights.
He points out that during the last period of Minister Rambukkella’s tenure, there was a shortage of about 80 medicines in the country, and today the shortage has increased to nearly 200 types of medicines.
He noted that these shortages include essential life-saving medicines, powerful antibiotics, medicines given to small children, medicines given for respiratory diseases, and many other medicines.
He states that the current poor administration of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation and the Drug Regulatory Authority, as well as the inefficiency of the high-ranking officials appointed to the Ministry of Health during the Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe regimes, are directly responsible for this situation. He said that under this situation, patients who come to hospitals to seek medical treatment will be severely inconvenienced in the future, and the President should immediately look into this matter.