Drugs from India arrive this week

Nadira Gunatilleke

The life saving drugs (98 varieties) purchased from India at a cost of Rs 120 million will arrive in the country within this week. The drugs will be distributed among state hospitals within ten days, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the drugs which will arrive in Sri Lanka this week will be sufficient for another two to three months. These drugs are freely available in the country at the moment and it is estimated that the existing stocks will be exhausted in another three months time while some other stocks will be over in two months time.

The ministry obtained cabinet approval for `Emergency Pharmaceutical Purchasing’ to purchase the drugs. This will be the last consignment of drugs that will be purchased by the ministry following this procedure. The ministry practiced this method on a few occasions during the recent past. A representative from the treasury was also included in this special team to ensure transparency, he said.

Recently the ministry discovered some dispensaries in state hospitals inform patients that drugs are not available avoiding part of their duty which is getting drugs from hospital stores. When the drug is over at the counter, the dispenser does not obtain the drug from the hospital stores and inform the patients that the drug is not available, he said.