The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has made a request to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to intervene to provide solutions to the problems faced by the people due to the shortage of pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment in the country by providing material and technical support and exerting necessary pressure on the relevant authorities including the Ministry of Health.
Speaking to the media after handing over the relevant request to the WHO Office for Sri Lanka yesterday (26), GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said: “We have continuously pointed out the crisis situation that the patients have to face due to the shortage of drugs and medical equipment to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and the other authorities. In addition to the shortage, there has been an unbearable rise in drug prices. Various irregularities and acts of corruption are taking place in the procurement of drugs. Although we have requested the authorities to solve these issues, there has been no favourable response from them.”
Claiming that there is no idea when this issue will be resolved, he said that the GMOA has understood that the problems faced by the patients cannot be solved by bringing them to the attention of the local authorities anymore. Therefore, he said that the relevant committees within the GMOA had decided to inform the WHO in this regard. “The WHO has helped us in various ways during many crisis situations like the Covid-19 pandemic. We have also presented a 10-point proposal to the authorities. We submitted it to the WHO also. We have requested them to help us by providing the necessary material and technical support, and also to exert necessary pressure on the authorities.”
As the country is seeing a serious economic crisis at present, the relevant authorities have, over the past few months, been finding it difficult to procure the required funds to import the pharmaceutical drugs and other medical supplies. Although the situation has subsided to some extent due to various grants and donations from several organisations and countries, the hospitals are still affected by the shortages of drugs and medical equipment. However, the Ministry has been stating that the provision of treatment can be managed even in the midst of the shortage of drugs and medical equipment.
Meanwhile, claiming that the country’s healthcare sector has deteriorated to the extent that a patient with a serious illness cannot currently obtain the necessary treatment without bearing heavy expenses, the All Ceylon Medical Officers’ Association recently stated that it is vitally important to introduce necessary provisions to make the right to access healthcare a fundamental right.