No shortage of medicine - Minister

Uditha KUMARASINGHE and Irangika RANGE

Leader of the House Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament yesterday there is no shortage of medicine at hospitals in the North and East or any other areas of the country.

The Minister was responding to an oral question raised by the JVP MP Ranaweera Pathirana that there is a shortage of a certain medicine in the Anuradhapura hospital.

The Minister also categorically denied the news item published in a certain newspaper in this regard. The Health Ministry has made a clarification on this news item.

The Minister said this particular medicine called "pethedine" is a narcotic and special regulations have to be followed in importing it. The particular medicine is used as an anaesthetic. It is imported from India and the next stock is due to reach the country on Friday, February 20, he said.

The Minister said that he had a discussion with the Indian High commissioner to sort out the problem arisen to import this particular medicine from India.The shortage of the medicine was hyped into an issue by a union of 23 doctors belonging to the JVP. At present the Government imports, 8,594 brands of medicine. But when there is a delay to import a single item, the JVP attempts to make a big issue of it, the Minister added.