More than 40 essential Drugs are out of stock at Government Hospitals these days according to the the president of Health Services Trade Union Alliance(HSTUA) Saman Ratnapriya.Kandy General ,Maharagama Cancer,Karapitiya Teaching ,Kalmune Ashroff,Polonnaruwa and and Matara General are the worst affected hospitals in this regard and other hospitals too having a very short supply of Drugs Ratnapriya has said.
"Metformin" prescribed for Diabetes,"Atenelol" prescribed for High Blood Preassure,"Atovastatine" prescribed for Cholesterol ,Diclofenac Sodium",Glucometer Stripes,Dialysis Blood Lines and Gentamycine Eye Drops are among the out of stock Drug items he stressed.
The main reason for this Drug Shortage is the failure of Health Authorities on submitting the List of required Drugs for the Hospitals based on a Patients Survey according to Ratnapriya.Health Ministry should have taken steps to Submit the list of required Drugs for the Hospitals in time and minimize the waste and corruption in tender procedures to overcome the drug shortage problem in future he further added.
It has also been revealed that the Treasury has allocating Rs.14,000 million for purchasing of Drugs annually and this too not sufficient as this amount finishes around September each year Ratnapriya further added.
