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Surgical equipment unavailable at certain hospitals

22 May 2022

  • Caesarean surgery equipment and urinary catheters in list
BY SAFRAH FAZAL The Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCPA) stated that several surgical items – including equipment required for Caesarean surgeries and urinary catheters, as well as nasogastric (NG) tubes (used to feed food and medicines to patients through the nasal passage) – are unavailable at certain hospitals in the country. Speaking at a media briefing on 21 May, MCPA Secretary Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara stated: “When an enquiry was made by the Prime Minister, some officials had stated that there was no shortage of medicines. Although through the media it appears that there is no such issue, on a provincial level, some hospitals are facing a critical shortage of medicines and equipment,” Bandara stressed.  The MCPA recently held discussions with Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene, who was appointed to look into the shortage of medicines. The association stated that it received a positive response from the above pertaining to the issues raised on the country’s medical crisis.  As suggested by the MCPA, Ekanayake and Wijewardene have also agreed to appoint a task force through the PM’s office to look into the shortages faced by hospitals on a provincial basis and supply the essential medications and equipment accordingly. During this discussion, in response to the issue regarding the duration taken to bring down the needed drugs, Bandara stated that they would put forward a transparent and foolproof strategy to be followed, where essential medications can be brought to the country in less than six weeks instead of waiting for over three months to receive supplies, which Bandara stated that the officials agreed to.  Last week, College of Medical Laboratory Sciences (CMLS) President Ravi Kumudesh warned that hospitals may not be able to operate intensive care units (ICU) and high-dependency units (HDU) in the future due to the prevailing lack of reagents needed for essential blood gas analysers.  Kumudesh added that although the current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed former State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene to look into the issues of the health service, including those of medical supplies, none of the necessary discussions had taken place with the relevant parties. The Society of Government Pharmacists (SGP) claimed late last month that about 50% of the stocks of medical supplies in the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) of the Ministry have been exhausted. Speaking to The Morning at the time, SGP President Ajith Thilakaratne said that out of the 1,358 medicines that should be in the MSD, stocks of 525 have been depleted. Among them are six life-saving drugs, 239 essential drugs and 280 rarely used drugs. He also said that out of the 8,553 surgical items required to be in the MSD, stocks of 5,376, which is 62.9% of the total requirement, have been depleted. However, the Ministry at that time rejected the allegations made by the SGP, stating that claims of such a shortage were misleading.

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