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| Sunday, 3 February 2002 |
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Prohibitions, restrictions on medicinal drugs cause poor health in North by P. KRISHNASAMY Health care services in the Northern province were deteriorating to a very low level not so much due to the ravages of war but due to prohibitions and restrictions on pharmaceutical products, observed Mr.Dayala Deva, a former Director of the International Federation of Red Cross, who made the keynote presentation at a seminar conducted last Friday at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. The seminar was conducted under the auspices of the Centre for Policy Alternative (CPA), on the theme 'Medical Supplies and Services to Jaffna: A Critical Evaluation'. Mr. Dayala Deva remarked that unless all prohibitions and restrictions on pharmaceutical products to the northern peninsula were removed the condition prevailing there could not be reversed. He pointed out that it is a fundamental right of every citizen, irrespective of where he lived, to secure proper health care facilities. Ninety to ninety-two percent of the peninsula was under the control of the government security forces and why the government enforced prohibitions and restrictions in those areas was difficult to understand, Mr. Dayala said. He pointed out that since 1992 the procedure to obtain medicines for the 19 peripheral government hospitals in the Jaffna peninsula had changed and rigid controls were imposed. Certain items of the basic hospital requirements were restricted according to defence policies which changed from time to time. Nearly 20% of the medical items sent to Jaffna had a very short expiry date. When they reached their destinations, 12% to 15% of the items were either pilfered or damaged. High temperature and exposure to sunlight also damaged the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical products, he mentioned. Medical teams had reported that in the past year, 21 medical items were not approved while 23 medical items were restricted to less than 25%. About 19 medical items were restricted to less than 50% from the total quantity requested for by the Jaffna medical authorities. They were required to obtain clearance from both the Medicine Supplies Division (MSD) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to get medicines, including ordinary aspirins, Mr.Dayala said. A panel discussion followed and the participants included Prof.Daya Somaundaram, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dr.N.Sivarajah, Head of the Dept. of Community Medicine, Dr.D.Ambalavaner,Senior Lecturer Surgery, all three of them from the Jaffna University, Mr. A.M.L. Beligaswatte, Director General of Health Services, Dr. Ravindra Fernando, Director, Centre for Study of Human Rights, Colombo University and Dr. C.S. Natchinarkiniyan, Specialist, NECORD, Trincomalee. The opening address was delivered by Dr.Paikiasothy Saravanamuthu, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Alternatives. The seminar was well attended. Among the participants were the Canadian High Commissioner, representatives of Defence institutions and Tamil political parties. |
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