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Foreign missions’ help sought to obtain medical supplies

11 Apr 2022

  • Pharma State Ministry writes to Foreign Ministry about shortage
  • Specifies supplies that cannot be imported using Indian credit line
BY Pamodi Waravita and Buddhika Samaraweera The State Ministry of Production, Supply, and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals had sent a letter, seen by The Morning, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday (8 April), requesting assistance from foreign missions to ensure that Sri Lanka receives stocks of medical supplies that are not manufactured in Sri Lanka. “There is a considerable amount of vital medical supplies such as orthopaedic implants, anti-cancer drugs, reagents and consumables used at blood banks, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tests, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) testing reagents, and laboratory reagents that are imported from the US, Europe, and Australia,” the letter addressed to the Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary, Admiral and Prof. Jayanath Colombage by State Ministry Secretary Dr. S.K. Rathnayake said. “Due to the prevailing foreign reserves crisis, it has been extremely difficult to maintain the supply chain of the abovementioned extremely important medical supplies imported from Europe. We would be extremely grateful if you could assist the State Ministry to co-ordinate with foreign missions and any other interested donors to maintain the medical supplies which are not manufactured in Sri Lanka, and which cannot be imported using the Indian credit line.” The Indian Government offered a $ 1 billion credit line to Sri Lanka last month for the purchase of essential food and medicine items. “The State Ministry is utilising the maximum production capacity of local production and has also started to utilise the Indian credit line to the maximum effect in order to purchase medical supplies for Sri Lanka,” the letter added. Last week, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, requesting him to urgently prioritise the securing of funds to fulfil basic needs in hospitals, as the health care sector faces an acute shortage of essential supplies. “There is an acute shortage of essential medicines, reagents, equipment, and consumables in Government hospitals and the private health care sector in Sri Lanka. Already, decisions have been taken to curtail certain services, such as routine surgical operations, and to even limit the usage of available material so as to utilise them only for life-threatening illnesses. This is not at all a sound policy, as what is considered a non-emergency situation could turn into a life-threatening problem within a few hours.  “In addition, this is not a sustainable policy and unless the urgent replenishment of supplies is made, within a matter of weeks, if not days, emergency treatment will also not be possible. This will result in a catastrophic number of deaths, which is likely to be in excess of the combined death toll of Covid-19, the tsunami, and the war,” the SLMA warned in the letter. The Health Ministry has outlined a number of methods through which interested donors can send supplies to sustain the health care sector in the country. Dr. Anver Hamdani has been appointed as Co-ordinator of Health Care Donor Activities and can be reached at moh.covid.coordinator@gmail.com, while donors from foreign countries are encouraged to reach out to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr. Saveen Semage at dg@nmra.gov.lk or 0710818548.


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