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Major Thriposha shortage in hospitals

25 Mar 2022

BY Pamodi Waravita Hospitals are facing a severe shortage of the Thriposha nutrition supplement to provide to pregnant women and children below the age of five years, Health Ministry officials told The Morning yesterday (24). “This year, we are finding it difficult to provide the essential Thriposha supplement to our mothers and children below the age of five years. There is a shortage due to interruptions in the production as there has been trouble sourcing maize (corn),” a senior ministry official said. Thriposha is produced at the Sri Lanka Thriposha Ltd. factory using maize and soya beans as its core ingredients. Due to its high nutritional value, the ministry has identified a few core beneficiary groups, who receive two packets of Thriposha (750 grammes each) per month. Accordingly, all pregnant women, all breastfeeding mothers (up to six months in terms of the age of the infant), infants over the age of six months, and children below the age of five years who are suffering from malnutrition are beneficiaries of the aforementioned programme. The official said that the troubles in sourcing maize have arisen due to certain imports being of low quality and decreased domestic production. The Morning’s attempts to contact Sri Lanka Thriposha Ltd. Chairman Deepthi Kularathna for further information on the matter proved futile. Meanwhile, serious concerns of a food crisis are rampant in the country, exacerbated by a number of factors, including the switch to organic farming last year, inflation, and the country’s US dollar shortage. Queues for a number of essential items are already a common sight around the island, especially for milk powder, another staple for many low-income families. According to the World Food Programme’s Country Brief on Sri Lanka (February 2022), the country faces a “nutritional triple burden” of undernutrition, overnutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. Furthermore, it said that 15% of children under the age of five years suffer from wasting, which is rapid weight loss or the failure to gain weight.


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