Patients hit hard by shortage of antibiotics and testing facilities – Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa

Colombo, Nov. 17 (Daily Mirror) - Patients in major hospitals are facing serious difficulties due to a shortage of strong antibiotics, laboratory chemicals, and radiological testing facilities, Chairman of the Doctors' Trade Union Alliance for Medical and Civil Rights Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa said.

He said essential medicines, including powerful antibiotics such as Cefotaxime, Cefexime, Amikacin, and Isoprenaline, are in short supply. Hospitals are also lacking Salbutamol respiratory solutions needed for nebulization and IV Metachlorpropamide injections used for patients with severe vomiting. As a result, hospitals have been forced to spend large sums to purchase these drugs from local suppliers at higher prices.

He further said that many hospital wards do not even have basic Blood Glucose strips required for simple sugar tests, causing major challenges in treating diabetic patients and adding pressure on medical staff.

Due to the unavailability of reagents needed for essential laboratory tests—even in key institutions such as the Colombo National Hospital—patients are compelled to pay significant amounts to obtain chemical tests at private laboratories. Dr. Sanjeewa questioned whether there is an organized racket behind the continued referral of patients to external testing centres instead of purchasing reagents at reasonable prices for hospital use.

He added that long queues for CT scans, MRI scans, and angiogram tests have become common in several major hospitals, with the problem particularly severe at the Colombo National Hospital.

Dr. Sanjeewa criticised the health administration, stating that it has failed to resolve critical issues within the health sector over the past year. He also highlighted that nearly 70% of the funds allocated to the Ministry of Health in the last budget remain unused.

He urged the President to take note not only of these shortages but also of concerns repeatedly raised by the Auditor General regarding corruption and fraud within the Ministry of Health—issues which, he says, the current Health Secretary has continued to ignore.