• Urges Prez to intervene by appointing scientific and tech comm., and for another comm. to probe Col. NHSL ‘irregularities’

The Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCPA) organisation has urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to suspend the implementation of the Indo–Sri Lanka health agreement and the recognition of Indian pharmaceutical standards in Sri Lanka until it is reviewed by a scientific and technical committee.

In a letter sent yesterday (01), the MCPA President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa called on the President to pay close attention to several pressing concerns, noting the country’s health system is currently facing a severe crisis. He highlighted the urgent need to alert the State administrative body to the emerging shortage of medicines, including cancer drugs. Dr. Sanjeewa also emphasised the importance of appointing a committee to investigate irregularities at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), Colombo, and of allocating the necessary provisions or assistance to establish a quality-control laboratory within the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to meet international standards. The MCPA has requested an opportunity to discuss the current crisis in the health sector, accompanied by the relevant data and statistics, and has called for the President’s direct and urgent attention to these matters.

Recently, the NMRA was compelled to temporarily suspend four batches of an anaesthetic drug manufactured in India, reigniting concerns over the procurement of Indian medicines for the State health service. Dr. Sanjeewa has also written to the Indian Prime Minister, appealing for support in establishing a National Drug Regulatory and Quality Control Laboratory. The NMRA has noted that drugs failing quality tests are not common only to Indian imports or unique to Sri Lanka.