Medical specialists warn of medicine shortages in hospitals

Colombo, June 24 (Daily Mirror) - The Medical Specialists' Association has written to the Health Minister, saying that government hospitals are not receiving enough essential medicines and medical equipment. The Association’s President, Ravi Kumudesh, revealed this at a press conference yesterday.

Kumudesh said it seems the Health Ministry is unofficially forcing patients to buy medicines from outside when they are not available in hospitals. He explained that the Association had sent a letter to the Minister asking for answers to five important questions about this issue.

These questions include whether patients or their family members can legally be asked to buy medicines from outside, whether they can be told where to buy them, and whether doctors can give prescriptions at outpatient departments without getting permission from a health administrator. They also asked whether prescriptions can be given for medical tests not available in hospitals and if it’s allowed to inform patients and families when medicines, equipment, or tests are unavailable.

Despite these concerns, Deputy Health Minister Hansaka Wijayamuni recently said there is no problem if patients buy what they need from private places, according to Kumudesh.

He also said that although the Minister had promised to fix issues about medicine price control committees, there are attempts to bring back a similar system in a different way.

Kumudesh further claimed that a group of medicine suppliers had written to the Health Minister, accusing the Ministry of giving special treatment to certain companies when selecting suppliers for essential medicines.

He warned that if this continues, a few companies will control medicine prices and cause repeated shortages, as the Health Ministry will have to depend on just one supplier for some medicines.

The Association called for immediate honesty and fairness in how medicines and medical equipment are bought and supplied to government hospitals to protect patient care.