Local drug manufacturers and importers are in trouble.
The Ministry of Health has obtained approval from the Council of Ministers to import twenty-eight unregistered drugs from the National Drug Regulatory Authority from India’s Kausikh Pharmaceutical Company without the procurement process.
These medicines are to be imported using the remaining 46 million American dollars under the Indian credit facility. These days the health sector is facing a crisis due to shortage of essential medicines.
It is stated in the report presented by Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to the Cabinet on October 25 that there are no stocks of 151 types of essential medicines, 5268 consumables including surgical instruments, 850 chemicals and 18 radioactive materials.
The minister has warned that the shortage of medicine will worsen in the next few weeks.
Due to this, the Indian company Savorite has agreed to supply three months of medicines to the cabinet.
The drugs produced by this company are also not registered with the National Drug Regulatory Authority. The manner in which this company was selected is not mentioned in the cabinet paper and permission has been requested to purchase medicines from other selected companies. The Minister has informed the Cabinet that the State Drug Regulatory Corporation has approved these drugs. But medicines used by patients in Sri Lanka are approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority.
The Ministry of Finance has informed through its observations that since the proposed supplier has been selected on an essential basis, the price and quality should be discussed. After approving this cabinet paper, the health minister will once again present a cabinet paper on the fifth of December. It is to buy medicine from another company.
This cabinet paper has been submitted to bring medicines from Kausikh pharmaceutical company located in Chennai, India. 28 types of medicines are to be imported there. The drugs of this company have not been approved by the National Drug Regulatory Authority. On the 17th, Kausikh Pharmaceutical invited the Minister of Health to visit their company. Accordingly, the Health Minister and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Regulatory Authority left for India yesterday (21) without pharmacists. All expenses for that have been borne by the respective pharmaceutical company.
However, the Cabinet cannot take decisions by other methods than the standard method of the Parliament. However, there are a large number of purchases and projects approved by the cabinet using these wrong and illegal methods. According to that, it seems that even the Cabinet Board is working outside the law.
The Ministry of Finance has also established an Indian Credit Facility Coordinating Division to import medicines using the Indian Credit Scheme. The Ministry of Health has informed the Cabinet that it has received the support of the Indian High Commission and more than a thousand files have been submitted to obtain medicines and it has taken a long time to get approval.
(If this article is false, it is the responsibility of Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to reveal the truth about it to the country. Space is reserved for his statement here)