Special drugs cost Health Ministry Rs 1,750m

Ridma Dissanayake

The Health Ministry spent Rs 1,750 million to purchase special drugs and medicine for cancer patients during the last 10 months, a Health Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

The ministry spends around Rs 3,500 million to provide treatment and tests for cancer patients islandwide. The ministry also spends a colossal sum to provide special medicine for cancer patients, he said.

The spokesman said Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena receives at least 50 files a week requesting special drugs and medicine for cancer patients.

The minister approves all files and the Health Ministry spends around Rs 5 million to Rs 9.6 million for each patient, he said.

He said the Health Ministry spends Rs 3,000 million for kidney patients, Rs 4,500 million for heart patients and Rs 3,500 million for children with Thalassemia.

Persona benefitting from these funds do not know that the government spends a huge sum to protect their lives, the spokesman said.

"The Health Ministry will give a bill to persons leaving the hospitals after recovering from ailments. This bill is to be given to those persons only to inform them how much the government, the ministry and the public spend to protect their lives," the spokesman said.

The ministry will display prices of special medicine at hospitals. The pilot project of this programme is to be implemented at the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Kandy Kidney Hospital and Anuradhapura Kidney Hospital, he said.