• College of Medical Laboratory Science calls Govt. to provide pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment to maintain the health service

Emphasising that there is no need to make reminders to the effect that health service is an essential service by issuing gazette notifications, the College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) stated that the Government should instead provide the necessary facilities including pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment to maintain the health service.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, CMLS President Ravi Kumudesh said: “The Government has suddenly remembered that the health service is an essential service. There are no drugs to be given to the patients who visit hospitals. There are no reagents and other medical equipment for them to undergo tests and surgeries. When the real situation is such, the Government is issuing gazette notifications declaring services including health as essential services.”

Claiming that there is no need to make reminders that the health service is an essential service by issuing gazette notifications with the President’s Secretary’s signature, he said that the Government should take steps to ensure the continuous supply of drugs and medical equipment to hospitals. However, he said that the Government is currently not paying any attention to the serious issues which have arisen in the health sector, adding that the Government may have a hidden intention of disrupting the free health service to please the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The professionals in the health sector have been launching various protests and other forms of campaigns to force the Government to resolve these issues over the past. That is why the health workers have become one of the Government's biggest challenges. Therefore it plans to prevent us from launching such programmes and the issuance of gazette notifications from time to time, including the gazette which has been issued on 17 February, is part of that plan,” added Kumudesh.

The supply of electricity and all related services, the supply and distribution of petroleum products and fuel, and health services have been declared essential services once again through a gazette notification issued on 17 February. The gazette was issued by Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake under the directives of President Ranil Wickremesinghe last Friday (17). Previously, several gazettes including those dated 3 August 2022, 3 September 2022, 4 October 2022, and 3 January 2023 had been issued by Wickremesinghe declaring the said services as being essential services.

As the country is seeing a serious economic crisis at present, the relevant authorities have, over the past few months, been finding it difficult to procure the required funds to import the drugs and other medical supplies. Although the situation has subsided to some extent due to various grants and donations from several organisations and countries, the hospitals are still affected by the shortages of drugs and medical equipment. The Ministry of Health also instructed the hospital authorities recently to postpone the surgeries which the Ministry termed to be non-essential and non-urgent, on medical advice, in view of the prevailing drug and medical supplies shortages.