The Prof. Senaka Bibile’s medicinal drug policy is the answer to the present severe shortage of medicines in Government hospitals. As a result, most patients have to purchase their medicines from private pharmacies. The price of these medicines has soared to such an extent that the poor are unable to afford them. This is particularly the case for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes where they need to take medicines daily. This leads to a flaring up of these severe illnesses, resulting in premature death. Sri Lanka is going back towards the situation that existed before the 1970s, when Prof. Bibile introduced his policy. Then, the drug companies controlled the global and local markets and the Health Department had to abide by their terms. The majority of the patients suffered as a result.
How did Prof. Bibile change that situation through his policy? He found that various drug companies were purchasing from the few producers of generic drugs, at a low price and making a huge profit by giving them a brand name and capturing the market. The widely used generic product Paracetamol is sold under various brand names like Panadol, Panadeine, etc., by different drug companies at a huge profit. Prof. Bibile set up the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) with the support of the Finance Minister Dr. Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, and Industries and Scientific Affairs Minister Subasinghe Mudiyanselage Tikiri Banda Subasinghe. The SPC used the list of essential drugs, about 233 (at that time) which had been prepared by Prof. Bibile, out of about 1,000 or more available in the market. They obtained the Government health sector requirement from the Medical Supplies Division (MSD). In addition, Prof. Bibile made an estimate of the requirement of the private health sector, and this was added to the State sector requirement. Then, the SPC called worldwide tenders for the total requirement of essential generic drugs, like Paracetamol, for the coming year for Sri Lanka as a whole. Because this was a large amount, Prof. Bibile was able to get at a very low price, good quality generic medicines for all the people in Sri Lanka. The State health sector requirement was given to the MSD. For the private sector, Prof. Bibile set up the Osu Sala at Lipton Circus, Colombo. To reach the people in the rest of the country, he chose reliable private pharmacies to whom the Osu Sala outsourced the SPC medicines as its agent. This acted as a pressure on the other private pharmacies to bring down the price of drug company products like Panadol, Panadeine, etc.
Prof. Bibile was keen on developing countries like Sri Lanka not having to depend on imports and mooted the idea of manufacturing medicines. For this, he set up a State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC). This was able to produce about 43 drugs due to the efforts of Dr. Gladys Jayawardene, who, as part of the Health Ministry, stepped in to carry his work forward. Prof. Bibile was also very keen as a Professor of Pharmacology to ensure that medical students would practice good medicine when they passed out as doctors. So, he set up a Formulary Committee that produced an excellent hospital formulary as a proper guide in clinical pharmacology. Prof. Bibile was an excellent teacher and he never brought any notes into the classroom but he ensured that the students got his message, by repetition or expanding his message. Prof. Bibile shifted to the Peradeniya University when it was establishing the Medical Faculty and became the first Professor of Pharmacology. He was an educationist and introduced many new teaching methods.
Prof. Bibile was born in remote Bibile. His father was a Rate mahattaya. He obtained a scholarship to enable him to study at Trinity College, Kandy. Once he became a doctor, the first thing that he did was to repay his scholarship so that a poor student could get the chance that he obtained. It was at Trinity that he got interested in social service and the upliftment of the poor. He was attracted to the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and its struggle against British imperialist rule. He joined the LSSP while at University and made an excellent study of Marxism and Leninism. As a medical student, I formed a Socialist Society and used to take a group of interested students to his house in Rajagiriya on bicycles. He gave us some good talks on socialism and encouraged us to be critical before accepting his ideas. In the LSSP, he took to active politics and became the Treasurer of the Youth Congress.
When racial attacks against the LSSP were at its worst during the anti-Tamil language riots, he volunteered to contest a by-election for the Kuppiawatte Ward in the Colombo Municipal Council. When we went canvassing for him, we were abused as supporters of Tamil also being made an official language with Sinhala. But, he did not give in and stood up for the correct policy of the LSSP, knowing that he would lose. But, the acceptance by the World Health Organisation of his medicinal drug policy and sending him to various poor countries to start the process gave him the greatest satisfaction. I remember the time when he was to make what turned out to be his final visit abroad to the Caribbean countries and South America. Me and my wife Kamini Meedeniya Vitarana went to his house for dinner with him and his wife Leela Bibile. He gave his jovial laugh and said: “Vitarana, see how the drug company lobby is trying to frighten me to give up my mission. I have got several calls warning me not to go tomorrow as there is a plot to kill me.” I told him that he should remember that they will not be happy to lose their profits and that he should be careful. He left the next day on his mission. It was in Guiana that they killed him by giving him a chemical at a dinner which led to a very rapid heartbeat. With his previous history of ischaemic heart disease, this could have a fatal outcome. There was some delay in getting him to hospital, and even there, he was kept on the trolley for a long time without being seen by a doctor, despite all of Leela Bibile’s appeals.
Kamini and I went to Katunayake to receive the Leela Bibile with Prof. Bibile’s ashes. One of the saddest days in my life. Prof. Bibile was only 54 years old when he was killed. He had a lot more energy in him to serve the people and fight for a socialist future for mankind. Today (13), we thank him for what he did for the poor people of the world. It will never be forgotten.
(The writer is the General Secretary of the LSSP)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication