The Minister of Health, hospital deaths and politics - EDITORIAL

Our health system is in a mess. Today there is a serious shortage of drugs at the premier cancer hospital on the island. According to the Maharagama Apeksha Hospital, Paediatric Oncologist Dr Sanjeewa Gunasekera, the hospital was managed with donations from philanthropists.

According to Gunasekera around 900 children are identified with symptoms of cancer annually. He added while around 250 of them die of cancer every year, most of them could be saved with early detection.
The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) in February this year warned the country was been facing an ‘emergency’ concerning the shortage of essential medicines. Of around 300 essential medicines, the stocks of about 160 are ‘zero’ at the Medical Supplies Division (MSD).

Not only is there a shortage of some essential drugs but there are no stocks at all of others. Some examples are Anaesthetics and pain management medicines. Both local and general Anaesthetic agents are in short supply.
With anaesthesia in short supply, most surgeries in the country have ceased, including kidney transplants. Cancer patients have lost access to medications needed to fight the deadly disease. Diabetes patients must secure and bring their glucose meters for blood sugar checkups.

The GMOA spokesperson on 12 October last year pointed out that Government hospitals at Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi and Tissamaharama were on the verge of collapse.
According to reports, the 3,500-bed National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo, which usually has 1,300 medicines in stock, is now down to requesting only the 60 most essential medicines.
It was amidst this situation Minister of Health together with the CEO of the National Medicinal Drugs Regulatory Authority took an unannounced flight to India on the invitation of a medical supplier he (the Minister) was promoting for a Health Ministry contract.

In doing so he ignored President/Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s instructions to follow established guidelines regarding procurements and submitted two consecutive unsolicited proposals from locally unregistered Indian companies to buy drugs under the Indian credit line as revealed by our sister publication The Sunday Times.
In response to a storm of criticism, the Minister claimed he travelled at his own expense.

Media reports contested this position exposing that the relevant invoice of payment for the five-star hotel the Minister used for his three-night stay (At $400 per night) had the Indian company’s mail address mentioned in the payee’s information!
Despite the stir caused by the Minister’s questionable trip, the contract to supply drugs side-stepping NMRA scrutiny and instructions by the President himself to follow normal procedure, the contract was signed ignoring the President’s caveat. The drugs were imported.
Knowing the political culture in our country, the matter could have been swept under the carpet after the dust settled. Unfortunately, several patients who were treated with drugs suffered ill effects.

In May this year this paper reported doctors at the General Hospital in Nuwara Eliya, reported several patients who had received Indian medicines after eye surgery had complained of visual impairment.
In June a patient undergoing treatment at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital in the Kandy district died after an anaesthetic, namely Bupivacaine was used during a surgical procedure.
This news raised concerns as a pregnant woman had died at the same hospital just two months prior after being given a different Indian-made anaesthetic drug.

India has been Sri Lanka’s largest supplier of medical supplies for several years, and no one questions the quality of these drugs. What is different this time around is the questionable manner in which the new supply of drugs was brought into the country bypassing the normal procedure.
In Singapore earlier this year the Singapore Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau arrested Transport Minister S. Eswaran. In Malaysia, former Prime Minister Najib Razak was jailed on charges of embezzling the Malaysian State Development Berhard.
Will the system take action against a Minister or will we witness another cover-up? Strangely the Opposition has asked for a postponement of the debate of the No Confidence Motion against the Minister.