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Drug shortage exacerbated, claim private pharmacy owners 

11 Apr 2022

BY Dinitha Rathnayake The shortage of drugs has increased to 25% of national demand, claimed the All-Island Private Pharmacy Owners’ Association. Speaking to The Morning, Association President Chandika Gankanda further claimed that most of the brands are unavailable in the market. “Drug importers are unable to import drugs, as they cannot open letters of credit due to the US dollar (USD) crisis. There are no envelopes to place the medicines in when selling to the customers, in the market, due to the shortage of papers,” he claimed. “Pharmacy owners are unable to store medicines due to power cuts. Some drugs need to be stored at room temperature, while some need to be stored in the refrigerator, especially insulin (a hormone created by the pancreas that controls the amount of glucose in the bloodstream at any given moment) which has to be stored at 2-8° Celsius.” Further, he said that the storage of suppositories (a dosage form used to deliver medications by insertion into a bodily orifice where it dissolves or melts to exert local or systemic effects), and vaccines, which are also essential to be stored in refrigerators, are also affected by the power cuts. Most pharmacies are closing down due to a shortage of medicines and storage-related issues, Gankanda added. “Former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa promised us a weekly price increase during our discussion with him on 30 March, but since he is no more in the seat, we need to start the discussions all over again,” he stated.  The talks held between the Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry, the All-Island Private Pharmacy Owners’ Association, and Rajapaksa, regarding a request for another medicinal drug-related price hike and the lifting of price controls, had ended inconclusively. Gankanda claimed that it is almost impossible to provide drugs at the current price, where the US dollar rate has increased up to Rs. 320. “The drug prices were increased by 29% when the US dollar rate was Rs. 255. We ask for a price hike due to the current US dollar rate. But Rajapaksa did not provide us with any favourable answer.”  According to Gankanda, Rajapaksa had promised to discuss the matter with Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella at a subsequent meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. “We also requested to remove the price controls over drugs until the US dollar rate comes to a normal rate,” Gankanda stated.


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