The Hon. (Dr.) Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana

¶ 01 Presiding Member, I move:

¶ 02 “Given that about 35 years have elapsed since establishing the National Drug Quality Assurance Laboratory (NMQAL), that it is not presently functioning properly, and that many imported medicines are not subject to proper quality testing, this Parliament resolves that a suitable programme be formulated to rectify this situation.”

¶ 03 Ensuring quality medicines—imported and locally manufactured—at affordable prices is paramount. The NMRA (Act No. 5 of 2015) is mandated to ensure safe, efficacious, and good-quality medicines at affordable cost. Yet, an audit indicates NMRA has doubled profits over the last three financial years while Sri Lanka lacks a well-equipped, up-to-date lab to test medicine quality. We must establish a fully capable National Medicines Quality Assurance Laboratory.

¶ 04 Our 35-year-old lab is outdated and cannot function at international standard. The NMRA Chairman, Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, bears responsibility to work with Government to establish a proper laboratory; an estimated Rs. 5 billion would suffice—achievable within Health Ministry allocations. In 2022–2023, it was acknowledged by the NMRA Chairman that NMRA lab facilities were not accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board.

¶ 05 Why do officials evade responsibility? Under former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, substandard prednisolone caused partial or permanent blindness in about 150 patients; we intervened to secure compensation for 17, but the current Government has not compensated the rest. Similarly, substandard anaesthetics like bupivacaine and propofol harmed patients—the reports show quality failures and resultant deaths; these were tabled during the no-confidence motion against Minister Rambukwella. Drugs were administered without adequate local quality testing.

¶ 06 In October 2024, a “Report on failing sample” for human immunoglobulin confirmed substandard quality; I table that Report. NMRA must act against those responsible and recover losses. Sri Lanka urgently needs a robust medicines quality lab to test all imports and local products before patient use. I urge action.