Sri Lanka to fast-track direct procurement of medicines from foreign governments

Colombo, May 31 (Daily Mirror)- Plans are afoot to obtain direct assistance from foreign governments to secure essential medicines, until present issues within the medicine supply chain are resolved and disruptions are minimised, the Ministry of Health and Mass Media said. 

The Ministry said it has recently presented a Cabinet Paper on this and upon approval, the Cabinet has instructed the establishment of a committee to facilitate the direct procurement of medicines from foreign governments. 

This committee is to oversee and implement future steps under this mechanism.

Under this process, and with the agreement of the National Procurement Commission, the Ministry will submit the proposal to the Cabinet once again for the necessary final approvals.

The Ministry said an accelerated programme is already underway to restore the country’s medicine supply chain to normalcy.

"To take this initiative forward, a committee comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, the Ministry of Trade,Commerce, Food Security & Co-operative Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, and the Attorney General’s Department, has already been appointed," it said. 

The committee is chaired by the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Mass Media. On the May 29, the committee, under the leadership of Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe, convened at the Ministry of Health and Mass Media. The discussions focused on how to commence and implement the process for obtaining medicines for Sri Lanka with the cooperation of foreign governments.

Under this programme, the Ministry of Health and Mass Media intends to take all necessary measures to swiftly complete the required preliminary tasks and ensure the uninterrupted supply of essential medicines, medical equipment and related services to the public.