Only quality drugs in future - Health Ministry

by Carol Aloysius

All drugs issued by the state sector in future will be of high quality and uniform prices, Health Ministry officials have assured the public. Director of the Medical Supplies Division,Health Ministry, Dr Kamal Jayasinghe told the Sunday Observer, that the Health Ministry was now directly purchasing medical drugs from local manufacturers on a five year buy back guarantee, in order to help promote the local pharmaceutical industry.

" We purchase fifty six different medical ( drugs) and surgical items in popular demand from thirteen local manufacturers. Besides giving the local industry the assurance that we will continue to purchase these products from them for a five year period, this system also has certain advantages for the Ministry as well. For example, reports of quality failures of drugs are now much fewer than before. This is because we are able to visit these factories and closely observe them , ensuring that good manufacturing practices ( GMP) are carried out. Another advantage is that since these locally manufactured drugs can be purchased as and when we require them, it cuts down on the space we need to store them in our Division.", he said.

On reports of drug shortages in state hospitals, he said they applied to expensive drugs required mostly for patients with specific ailments such as cancer etc.