The Health Ministry has suspended medicines supplied to the hospitals on 69 occasions so far this year and 40 of the suspended medicines have been supplied by the State Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC), Health Professionals Association President Ravi Kumudesh said.
Mr. Kumudesh said that it is vital to pay proper attention to rectifying the issues regarding the condition of the medicinal drugs supplied by the SMPC instead of avoiding them.
He said the Health Ministry and the government should pay more attention to the issue since the SMPC manufactures medicines with the backing of the government.
Mr. Kumudesh said that some people are trying to import medicinal drugs only from Europe by creating a wrong impression about local pharmaceutical products and Indian products.
He said that while countries like India and Bangladesh were exporting high-quality medicinal drugs to the USA and European countries, Sri Lanka receiving only inferior medicinal drugs from the same countries was an issue of choice and not an issue of the country of origin.
“If there is an issue with the products of the SPMC that supplies medicines to the country through the intervention of the Sri Lankan government, it is a management issue,” he said.
He said that if decisions are being taken after considering the economic crisis in the country, there is no other option but to improve the production of local medicines.
