Wednesday Jun 18, 2025
Wednesday Jun 18, 2025
Wednesday, 18 June 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa yesterday charged the Opposition for stoking public fear over potential shortages of essential medicines, insisting that the situation is being exaggerated.
Acknowledging that there is a risk of medicine shortages at all times, he said that sometimes even if one hospital is out of that particular medication, another would have it in stocks.
“There are some fluctuations in the supply chain, but the figures cited by the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa do not reflect the actual situation,” Dr. Jayatissa said, responding to queries posed at the weekly post-Cabinet meeting media briefing.
Dr. Jayatissa charged the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa of exploiting the issue for political gain and paving way for the pharmaceutical companies to inflate prices unnecessarily.
“Spreading fear without offering solutions only benefits pharmaceutical companies that want to push prices higher in situations like this,” Jayatissa claimed.
He alleged that Premadasa knows this process because he once held the portfolio of the Deputy Health Minister.
Dr. Jayatissa assured the public that the Government remains committed to resolving any supply issues and urged citizens not to be misled by politically motivated alarmism.
The Health Minister claimed the failure of previous Governments to issue tenders on time contributed to the current pressures on medical supplies. “There are also pending orders that were placed in 2022 and 2023,” he added.
Dr. Jayatissa noted that Rs. 35 billion has been allocated for medicine procurement, including in situations where suppliers bypass tenders and sell products directly to the market.
The Minister assured that the country will have sufficient supplies of most essential medicines by early next year as a result of the Government’s proactive procurement strategy.
He stated that the results of the measures taken by the new Government will be visible by next year.
“We had to do an entire overhaul of the medicine procurement process. We took active measures to address these loopholes and managed to complete 268 tenders during the first five months alone,” he said.
He explained that procurement of medical supplies is a complex process and not as easy as importing any essential goods.
“If you put an order today it takes about three to four months for the companies to produce it and with shipping time, the entire process takes about nine months as some of these medicines are made to order,” he added.
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