The Ministry of Health has announced that arrangements have been made to bring the insulin type currently in short supply to the country within the next four days.
The Ministry of Health also highlighted that three types of insulin are used within the country’s hospital system.
Deputy Director General of the Medical Supplies Division, Dr. G. Wijesuriya, stated that the shortage arose due to a delay in the supplier’s registration process.
Dr. Wijesuriya explained that instructions have been given to airlift the first batch of the required medication, Insulin Mixtard, to the country while hospitals have been instructed to manage the available limited stocks efficiently.
Dearth and registration delay
The dearth of Insulin Mixtard, which is provided to diabetes patients at hospital clinics islandwide, had caused severe inconvenience to diabetes patients of late.
Patients have been left helpless recently after doctors had told them that there is no insulin in many hospitals across the island, including at the Colombo National Hospital.
The State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) has called for Tenders to procure 752,000 vials of this drug, and it was subsequently granted to a company called Emerchemie NB (Ceylon) Limited.
Although this company has submitted an application to the National Medicine Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to update their registration, there was a delay in receiving approval, leaving it unable to supply the necessary drug.
This matter was also taken up during the drug review meeting held recently, which was chaired by former health secretary – Dr. Palitha Mahipala.
At that time, the NMRA had announced that the updated license was ready and it was learnt that the company had not taken measures to obtain that license.
It is said that this situation has led to the prevailing dearth of Insulin, which became a pressing issue since there are over 1,417,000 diabetes patients in the country.
Mr. Mylvaganam Prathapan functions as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Emerchemie NB (Ceylon) and is also the President of the Sri Lanka Chamber of The Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI).
