Essay competition to commemorate Prof. Senaka Bibile

COLOMBO: The Prof. Senaka Bibile Commemorative Association has organised an essay competition to commemorate the 28th death anniversary of Prof. Senaka Bibile which falls on September 29.

The competition will be in two categories viz schools and open.

The topic for the schools competition will be "Patient and drugs in the context of the market economy" and for the open category "National Drug Policy and Prof. Senaka Bibile".

Dr. R. M. W. Ranasinghe of the organising committee said each essay should contain not more than 1000 words and not less than 750 words. Essays can be in Sinhala, Tamil or English. Students in grades 10 to 13 can take part in the schools category. Essays should be certified by the respective principals. Closing date for entries is September 10.

All entries should be sent by the registered post to Prof. Senaka Bibile Commemorative Association, No. 888/39, Third Division Maradana, Colombo 8. Valuable prizes and certificates will be awarded to the winners.

Prof. Bibile, the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation founder took great pains to make drugs available to the poor at fair prices by trying to implement a National Drugs Policy. He led a selfless struggle to free millions of patients from the exploitation of drug racketeers by formulating national drug policies for several countries, said Dr. Ranasinghe in a release.