National Drug Policy before December

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena will table the National Drug Policy in Parliament within the next four months.

The formulation of the policy is 95 percent complete, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the main intention of introducing the National Drug Policy is producing essential drugs locally. Minister Sirisena has approved a project proposal presented by the State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) to increase its production capacity.

It is expected to produce at least 100 varieties of essential drugs locally by next year in the first phase of the project.

"SPMC produces 52 essential drugs for the country.

The SPMC produces around 50 per cent of the total paracetamol requirement of the country which is over 280 million tablets per year.

The entire requirement is 562 million tablets. Earlier it was only 43 drugs," the spokesman said.