In rural areas, health facilities have posted notices asking patients to bring tape, gauze and bandages. However, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has authorized the import of non-essential medicines, including a type of shampoo. For its part, the government has created a committee to deal with the problem.
Colombo () – Sri Lanka faces a serious shortage of medicines due to low foreign exchange reserves that prevent imports. About 160 of the 300 essential medicines are no longer available. Several experts revealed that the Ministry of Health has advised hospitals to prioritize emergency cases and urgent surgeries and delay everything else, minimizing routine operations to preserve the reserves that still remain.
Throughout the country, especially in the capital, the shortage of medicines is worsening by the day, while in rural areas hospitals have put up signs asking patients to bring tape, gauze and bandages.
A senior Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that “many hospitals could close soon” if action is not taken immediately. The situation was confirmed to by several anesthesiologists: “They should soon import about 60 types of medicines, the stocks would only be enough for two or three months.”
Last week the Sri Lanka Medical Association revealed at a press conference that “in addition to shortages of some medicines, there are also shortages of others, for example anesthetics and pain relievers. Both local and general anesthetics are not available, which limits the interventions of doctors, who have to face a difficult situation.The shortage or lack of medicines will impact everyone, whether it is a patient in intensive care, a person who has undergone surgery, a pregnant mother who needs a cesarean delivery or the victim of an accident.
Dr. Nishantha Samaranayaka, who served as a surgeon until December 2022, stated that “whether it is a rural hospital or the national hospital of Sri Lanka, a public hospital or a private hospital, the problem affects the whole country. If we ignore it, we will have to limit all health services, covering only life-saving interventions.”
Several analysts have explained that to overcome the situation it is necessary to “import only essential medicines, suspend all others and carefully manage patients until the country emerges from the economic crisis.”
The Sri Lanka Medical Association also welcomed the establishment by the Ministry of Health of a committee made up of representatives of medical institutions and officials from the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, the Medical Supplies Division and the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation, with the aim to find solutions to take action in time. The committee will meet weekly and meet Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella once a month.
Some medical advisers explained that “Sri Lanka faced a similar situation during the December 2004 tsunami, when large stocks of non-essential and expired medicines had to be destroyed. In recent weeks the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has arbitrarily authorized the importation of more than 270 medicines without quality, safety and efficacy evaluation, at a time when Sri Lanka is struggling with foreign exchange reserves. The order includes numerous non-essential medicines and a type of hair shampoo.”
