Prices Of 48 Essential Drugs To Be Reduced Up To 84% With Effect From This Friday(21)--Professor Asitha De Silva

Through the special Gazette Notification scheduled to be issued this Friday (21) prices of 48 widely used Essential Drugs are due to be reduced up to 84% according to the Chairman of Independant Drug Regulatory Authority Professor Asitha De Silva .

Professor Asitha De Silva

Addressing a special press briefing of the Ministry Of Health,Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine held at Government Information Department in Narahenpita this evening Professor Asitha Silva has stated that highest price reduction of 84% applied to a widely used medicinal pill prescribed for "Gastritis".A drug prescribed for Cholesterol and another anti biotic drug will be reduced by 48% each through the Gazette.

Prices of Essential drugs prescribed for major diseases including Diabetes,High Blood Pressure ,Heart Ailments too reduced by sufficent amount he has stressed.

Stern action will be taken against Pharmacies which do not implement  new price formula Professor Silve has further added.

Addressing the Press Briefing Health Minister Dr.Rajitha Senaratna has said that 48 Essential Drugs out of 265 Essential Drugs indexed  in an Essential Drugs List prepared under the  National Drug Policy
will be reduced with effect from this Friday and the prices of other Essential Drugs too will be reduced step by step in near future.

After the issuing of drug  price reduction Gazette Notification the consumer affairs authority ,Independant Drug Regulatory Authority and Special Investigations Unit of the Health Ministry will monitoring whether the pharmacies islandwide implement the new price formula or not he has revealed.

WHO Urged The Need For Governments In South East Asia Region To Make Commitment When Battling Against TB

TB remains a serious problem across the WHO South-East Asia Region, and requires the fullest attention and strongest commitment of governments, donors and civil society leaders to be effectively addressed. World Health Organization (WHO )has stated.

The press release issued by WHO regarding TB follows.

As outlined in WHO’s new global report on TB, a number of countries in the Region are among the world’s highest TB burden countries, while revised estimates based on increased case-reporting and enhanced surveillance show that the TB caseload is higher than previously projected. TB is the single largest cause of death of any infectious disease in the Region, and remains responsible for incalculable suffering, premature mortality, impoverishment and foregone development.

To get on track to achieve the SDG 2030 target and Global End TB Strategy targets by 2035, which includes reducing TB deaths by 95% and cutting new cases by 90%, countries across the Region must significantly scale up key interventions made in recent years.

Though countries have been making efforts to end TB and the number of TB deaths and TB incidence rate continues to fall, at the current trend the Region would not be able to achieve the SDG targets. A newer and bolder approach is needed to bend the curve faster and sharper to achieve the global targets.

This means intensifying measures to ensure early diagnosis and treatment, such as active case-finding and enhancing access to cutting-edge diagnostic tools. Adopting newer approaches of case diagnosis, community based treatment and treatment of latent infection.  It means integrating TB programmes with existing health systems, thereby amplifying the effect these interventions have. And it also means ensuring these and other interventions meet the needs of vulnerable and marginalized populations, who continue to disproportionately suffer from the disease.

To make this happen, funds must be allocated accordingly, while political commitment must be fortified.  Both must occur at national and international levels. Moreover, governments should provide national TB programmes the operating capacity to be agile and responsive in their efforts, while TB control leaders should adapt and apply global TB strategies with care and diligence.

The battle to achieve a Region free of TB with zero death, disease and suffering is both possible and necessary. We can and must make it happen.
 

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HEALTH TIP

Health Problems Related to Stress

What are some of the most significant health problems related to stress? Here's a sampling.

1. Heart disease. Researchers have long suspected that the stressed-out, type A personality has a higher risk of high blood pressure and heart problems. We don't know why, exactly. Stress can directly increase heart rate and blood flow, and causes the release of cholesterol and triglycerides into the blood stream. It's also possible that stress is related to other problems -- an increased likelihood of smoking or obesity -- that indirectly increase the heart risks.
   Doctors do know that sudden emotional stress can be a trigger for serious cardiac problems, including heart attacks. People who have chronic heart problems need to avoid acute stress -- and learn how to successfully manage life's unavoidable stresses -- as much as they can.
2.  Asthma. Many studies have shown that stress can worsen asthma. Some evidence suggests that a parent's chronic stress might even increase the risk of developing asthma in their children. One study looked at how parental stress affected the asthma rates of young children who were also exposed to air pollution or whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. The kids with stressed out parents had a substantially higher risk of developing asthma.
3. Obesity. Excess fat in the belly seems to pose greater health risks than fat on the legs or hips -- and unfortunately, that's just where people with high stress seem to store it. "Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol," says Winner, "and that seems to increase the amount of fat that's deposited in the abdomen."
4. Diabetes. Stress can worsen diabetes in two ways. First, it increases the likelihood of bad behaviors, such as unhealthy eating and excessive drinking. Second, stress seems to raise the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes directly.
5. Headaches. Stress is considered one of the most common triggers for headaches -- not just tension headaches, but migraines as well.
6. Depression and anxiety. It's probably no surprise that chronic stress is connected with higher rates of depression and anxiety. One survey of recent studies found that people who had stress related to their jobs -- like demanding work with few rewards -- had an 80% higher risk of developing depression within a few years than people with lower stress.
7. Gastrointestinal problems. Here's one thing that stress doesn't do -- it doesn't cause ulcers. However, it can make them worse. Stress is also a common factor in many other GI conditions, such as chronic heartburn (or gastroesophageal reflux disease, GERD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Winner says.
8. Alzheimer's disease. One animal study found that stress might worsen Alzheimer's disease, causing its brain lesions to form more quickly. Some researchers speculate that reducing stress has the potential to slow down the progression of the disease.

POPULAR YESTERYEAR SINHALA SONG SUNG BY PRIYA SURIYASENA

A Group Of Negambo Fishermen Had Launched A Protest By Blocking The Colombo-Chilaw Railway Line

The train services at Colombo -Chilaw Railw

ay line were  interrupted since this morning as a group of fishermen in Negambo area had launched a protest by blocking the  Rail Way line from Galkanda Rail Way crossing.

These fishermen had launched the protest against mining  sand from seas off Negambo to build Port City it has been reported.

Due to the sand mining there's a risk of reducing  fish resource in surrounding areas of Negambo sea coast the protestors have stated.

SrI Lanka To Regain GSP+ Facility By End Of This Year-State Minister Niroshan Perera

The state minister of national policies and economic affairs Niroshan Perera has stated today (17) that the Sri Lankan government expected to regain GSP+ trade concession for the country's Apparel Sector by the end of this year following the successful discussions held between Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wikramasinghe and higher officials of European Union at Brussels.

Several rounds of discussions held so far between Prime Minister Wikramasinghe and European Union officials have been successful he has stressed.

European Union had removed GSP+concession from Sri Lanka in 2009 and Sri Lanka has re applied for it  last June.

Three Persons Were Killed And Sixteen Others Injured And Hospitalized Due To A Bus-Tipper Collision

Three persons including a female were killed and sixteen  others injured and hospitalized due to a Colombo-Monaragala bound bus collidin

g  with a tipper truck transporting sand at Udawalawe area this evening it has been reported.

The injured  were admitted to the Embilipitiya Hospital for treatment.

Police have arrested  drivers of the bus and tipper truck regarding the accident.