Improving access to quality medicines for all Sri Lankans common aspiration: SLCPI President

From left: Azam Jaward (Secretary), Dr. Olivia Nieveras (Chief Guest), Shyam Sathasivam (President), Sanjiva Wijesekera (Vice President) and Sirimal Fernando (Treasurer)

President of the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) Shyam Sathasivam reiterated the chamber’s vision of making available quality medicines for all Sri Lankans, saying that establishing key processes to make the pharmaceutical industry sustainable is the need of the hour. Addressing the 57th Annual General Meeting of SLCPI, at which Sathasivam was re-elected as its President for the forthcoming year, he raised concerns that discussions with Ministry of Health, and National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) on formulating currency depreciation-linked price controls have been ongoing with little success, with the impact being felt across the pharmaceutical value chain – manufacturers, importers, distributors and retail pharmacies. “Our journey towards a viable pricing mechanism with the Ministry of Health is on-going. However, we are yet to make progress on this issue, which is mainly linked to the currency volatility as 85% of all drugs in Sri Lanka are imported. Pharma pricing while ensuring affordability and availability is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed together with all stakeholders,” expressed Sathasivam. 

Given that current pharma price control is not expressly linked to the currency movements or other external factors, as has been the case in many other countries which have similar pricing policies, Sathasivam said the sharp devaluation of the currency has led to even greater reductions of prices in real terms. “Even though the Ministry of Health allowed a 5% increase in the price of drugs in January 2017, the recent 30% price reduction on a further 15 molecules, with the Sri Lankan rupee devaluing at an alarming rate, has posed several challenges for the industry. “We have seen across industries with imported products, adjusting their prices according to the fluctuating currency – so our request is to do the same for pharmaceuticals as well,” he said.  

Speaking on the importance of setting up of a world-class quality assurance laboratory, especially for random testing of all medicines in the local market, where the SLCPI believes there are significant weaknesses in the current process, Sathasivam said: “The pharma chamber has unequivocally stood for quality of medicine and all investments by the Government to ensure quality is of paramount importance. In that context, we continue to raise concern on the need for a fully equipped quality assurance laboratory that meets international standards. We believe that with such a quality control laboratory, the country will be able to assure all citizens that the products available in the market—with or without a price control—will have the same quality parameters.”

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Guest, Public Health Administrator and Deputy World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Sri Lanka Dr. Olivia Nieveras, congratulated the SLCPI for its multi-stakeholder composition and willingness to work in ensuring good quality and affordable medicines for Sri Lanka. She mentioned that a mission composed of WHO regional and headquarter experts will come to the country in the coming months. She extended an open invitation to the pharma chamber to have a meeting with the WHO mission, and WHO may also act as a convener to facilitate a discussion among Ministry of Health and NMRA on issues relating to access, affordability and availability of quality medicines in the country.

 “The World Health Organisation has been assisting the NMRA to formulate a proper pricing structure based on WHO Guidelines on pharmaceutical pricing policies. I would like to invite SLCPI to attend these discussions to ensure transparency around the pricing process. With openness between different parties, I believe we can move forward to have discussions around viable and sustainable pricing mechanisms for medicines, to support the goals of the health sector in Sri Lanka,” said Dr. Nieveras.

The council members appointed for the year 2018/2019 are:

nPresident: Shyam Sathasivam, Managing Director, Sunshine Healthcare Lanka Ltd.

nSenior Vice President: Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, Managing Director, Hemas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

nVice President: Sanjiva Wijesekera, Executive Director, George Steuart Health Ltd.

nSecretary: Azam Jaward, Managing Director/CEO, Cipla Pharma Lanka Ltd.

nTreasurer: Sirimal Fernando, Deputy Managing Director, Astron Ltd.