Former State Minister of the Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian, Prof. Channa Jayasumana claimed that there have been major delays in the clearance of pharmaceutical drugs and other medical equipment from the Customs and Ports due to the failure of the relevant institutions including the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to provide the necessary instructions on time.
Speaking to The Daily Morning, he said that the range of issues that prevailed in the country's health sector had become aggravated at present. “The drugs and medical equipment imported to the country have been piled up at Ports and the Customs as the NMRA and the other relevant institutions do not provide the necessary instructions on time. The Ports and Customs authorities are reluctant to release them without proper instructions as there were several legal issues in the recent past. Due to this situation, there is a serious shortage of drugs and medical equipment at hospitals,” he said.
Prof. Jayasumana also said that there have been major delays in making payments related to the maintenance of essential equipment and the procurement of various services and commodities needed for the hospitals. “The timely maintenance of machines like computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is essential for efficient patient care, but currently, they are not being properly maintained. Even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the suppliers of such services were paid without major delays, but now, those payments are being made with great delays,” he went on to say.
Speaking further, he said that the health sector workers are unhappy due to the non-increase of salaries and due to not taking proper measures to eliminate the conflict situations that have arisen between certain groups of health sector employees, adding that the same had hindered activities in the health sector. “Even now, the issue of health workers including doctors and nurses leaving the country has not been resolved. There is a huge shortage of doctors and nurses working in distant hospitals. In addition, there have been various conflicts between groups of doctors, nurses and other staff. All these issues should be resolved for the survival of the health sector,” he said.
When contacted by The Daily Morning, NMRA Chairman Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama said that they had not been informed of any issue of drugs and medical equipment being piled up at Ports and Customs recently.
“Whenever such issues arise, we intervene, but, we have not been informed of any issue in the past week and so, I don't know if there has been any problem with something that has been imported outside of the prescribed system, for which we are not responsible. However, there is no issue with the relevant imports that have been done under the proper system,” he said.