Health Ministry Plans To Produce Most Of The Imported Drugs Locally To Tackle Drug Shortage

The Health Ministry has decided to produce most of the Drugs imported for Government Hospitals locally through the State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation and other local Private Institutes to tackle the Drug Shortages occurring time to time in Hospitals.

Under this programme the State Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Corporation (SPMC) already expand  their production of 'Paracetamol" by produced and supplying 16.5 million Paracetamol Tablets to the Government Hospitals and to the Market during last two weeks a  Ministry Official has stated.

Altogether the SPMC has expand their annual Drug Production of 1600 Million Tablets to 1800 Million Tablets with the increased 200 Million Production of Paracetamol.according to him.The official has also said that due to quality failure of a stock of Paracetamol imported through a Supplier and due to the delay of supplying the Drug to the Hospital has been caused the Paracetamol shortage occurred in Government Hospitals these days.

Colombo High Court Ordered To Produce Transcripts Of Second Court Martial Against Gen.Fonseka

The Colombo High Court has today ordered the Army Commander to handover the complete  transcripts of the proceedings of the Second Court Martial on Hi Corp Case filed against the Imprisoned Former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka.

The order was given after the Defense of the Case had challenged that the High Court cannot charge Former Army Commander legally with the same crime charges he has been convicted in the Second Court Martial hearing.The High Court is due to taken the requested transcriptions to consideration when the court hearing begin on 29th of March.

Prime Minister Has Revealed On Three LTTE Camps Function In Tamil Nadu

Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne has said in Parliament today(09th)  that the LTTE Terrorist Organization  is currently functioning three Training Camps in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and trying to reinstate their activities.Prime Minister has also said that out of these three LTTE Training Camps in Tamil Nadu, one training camp is training troops to destroy VIP Politicians and warned that they plan  to kill a Indian  Leader and  create another Civilian War in Sri Lanka.

According to him LTTE Leader Rudra Kumar who is based in USA and two other LTTE leaders who fled to India are believed to be handling this operation.

While proposing to extend the State of Emergency the Prime Minister has said that the LTTE Member Pugalendra Master has been responsible for recent attack  on  Mahabodhi Society in Chennai,India.

21,000 Tender Applications Called For Supplying Of Drugs This Year

Around 21,000 Tender Applications were called to buy essential drugs for state hospitals during January to March this year according to the Ministry Of Health .Although such a large number of tenders were called this year, there is still a shortage of some essential drugs in State Hospitals.

Ministry Officials further said that there is a monopoly in the drug supplying trade in Sri Lanka and the breaking of that monopoly is beyond their reach .The supplying of low quality drugs to hospitals by suppliers as well as  delaying of drug supplying process are the main reasons for this drug shortage they  added.

Severe Vaccine Shortage In Maharagama Cancer Hospital

Around 20-25 Essential Cancer Vaccines are out of stock in National Cancer Hospital at Maharagama(Colombo Suburbs) according to the hospital  sources .   

Carboplatin,Pachlitaxel,Vincristin(VCR),Doxorubacin,Oxaloplatin and Cisplatin are among the out of stock vaccines according to the sources.

Due to the shortage of these vaccines thousands of Cancer Patients faces severe difficulties as a large sum of money need to buy these vaccines from the Private Sector.As a result there is a threat to developing the illness of the Cancer Patients One Oncologist at the Cancer Hospital stressed.

In Private Sector One vial of these out of stock vaccines is costs around  Rs.10,000 and above according to him.

Meanwhile according to the Ministry Of Health the main reason behind  the Cancer Vaccine shortage is the delay of supplying these vaccines by the supplier.The supplier who was awarded the tender to supply these vaccines last year has not supplied them since March 2010 Ministry has confirmed.

Jayantha Katagoda Sworn In As New MP Replacing General Fonseka's Vacant Parliamentary Seat

Mr.Jayantha Katagoda a  member of the Democratic National Alliance(DNA) lead by imprisoned former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka  ,sworn in as a New MP in Parliament  replacing   the vacant seat of General Fonseka.Mr.Katagoda was Sworn in before the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksha this evening.


On last Saturday DNA has unanimously  nominated Mr.Katagoda as the replacement for their leader General Sarath Foneseka's vacant seat in the Parliament .The new MP who was also an Actor and Businessman was received third largest number of Preferential Votes during last Parliamentary Elections behind General Fonseka and Lakshamn Nipunaarachchi who refused to accept the replacement earlier.

60 Dengue Patients Were Reported From Colombo City During The March

 Around 60 Dengue Patients and 02 Dengue Deaths had been reported from the Colombo City during the first 08 days of  this Month(March) the Chief Medical Officer in Colombo Dr.Pradeep Kariyawasam has said today.

According to Dr,Kariyawasam out of these 60 Dengue Patients reported from the City of Colombo 20 were from Stace Road in Grand pass area.One out of the two Dengue Deaths reported is also from the Stace Road according to him.It has been reported that around 3500 people lives in 550 shanty houses attached to each other at Stace Road and they are not only prone to Dengue but other diseases like Tuberculosis and Fileria as well.

"There is a garbage canal in the area  and dengue mosquito breeding places like damaged Tyre s  and leaked water "the Colombo Chief MOH stressed.

Due to the spreading of dengue is in rise, People in the area are advised to destroy Dengue Mosquito Breeding Places and clean their home and garden surroundings to prevent the spreading of the disease.