Industry will support new national drug policy: SLCPI President Vish Govindasamy

The Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry reaffirmed their support to the Government and the Ministry of Health for the implementation of the new National Drug Policy at their recently held Annual General meeting (AGM), at Colombo’s Taj Samudra Hotel. SLCPI President Vish Govindasamy who was elected for a second term in office, speaking at the AGM said that the SLPI was aware that the new drug policy, will set standards, controls and guidelines for the importation and marketing of pharmaceuticals.

He said, “It will also help to discipline the pharma importers who are not members of our chamber, and will, we are sure, benefit the country as a whole, and bring Sri Lanka in line with all other countries with regard to the Healthcare system.”

Having said that, the newly elected president added a word of caution, requesting the Minister to take precautions to ensure that the interests of pharmaceutical importers and marketers were safeguarded while implementing the drug policy. He requested that they be afforded the opportunity to continue to provide quality drugs, which are currently available in every part of the country, so that patients will be able to purchase them at a competitive price.

“We also earnestly request you to kindly bear in mind the large number of people who are now employed in the pharmaceutical industry, both directly and indirectly and we appeal to you to kindly ensure that these peoples’ careers and their livelihood or that of their dependents are not affected in any way,” he said.

The pharmaceutical industry has created avenues for a large number of school leavers, both male and female to be gainfully employed as medical representatives, field managers, sales representatives and marketing staff. They have improved their knowledge of English, received expert training from skilled and knowledgeable experts in the field, both locally as well as overseas.

“Many have got the opportunity to participate in training sessions, seminars etc. and all this has given them a lot of self-confidence and self-respect. Many have utilised the opportunity to expand their academic knowledge by becoming qualified pharmacists, Chartered Marketers and some have even obtained their Masters degree in Business Administration. They have thus become useful to the society and also set examples to others,” said Govindasamy.

Touching on price regulation of pharmaceuticals, he said that the SLCPI in principle was not against the introduction of a reasonable, viable and a practical formula for Price Regulation.

However, he pointed out that the introduction of a price control on pharmaceuticals will not be as easy as controlling prices of certain other commodities, most of which have only a few in terms of different types and brands.  He said, “In pharmaceuticals, there are large numbers of different varieties, and according to the Drug Regulatory Authority, these varieties number over 5,000.”

Sighting the different reasons as to why pharmaceuticals are subject to frequent price fluctuations he said they could be attributed to a number of reasons such as the rise in the price of raw materials, shortages of raw materials from time to time, increased cost of packing materials and other inputs as well as the frequent currency fluctuation, rising cost of fuel and other factors.

 He pointed out that these factors could cause pharmaceutical prices to vary from shipment to shipment.

“In addition to that, with the Rupee devaluation this gets even more complicated,” said the president.