The Hon. D.V. Chanaka

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, among Private Members’ Motions brought during this year—and since I first entered Parliament—this is one of the best. We must protect the quality of medicines because people take medicine to get well, not to become sicker. This was the biggest blow to the previous government. People take medicine for themselves and their families to be healthy, and therefore we fully support this Motion. We believe Minister Nalinda Jayatissa and the Deputy Minister will intervene and act swiftly, and we in the Opposition are ready to extend our full support.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, this government has been in office for nearly a year. However, instead of just blaming the previous government, we must show solutions to shortages. I have a list of halted surgeries across Sri Lanka. There are also many IVs currently unavailable.

¶ 03 First, the Papaverine IV: the Deputy Minister claimed it was Rs. 70,000, then said it could be brought for Rs. 300, then Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 40,000, and again Rs. 300. But today it is not available in any government hospital, though available in the private sector—at what price, we do not know. Metaraminol IV, used when blood pressure is low, is also unavailable in hospitals. Dextrose, used for low blood sugar, is unavailable. Maxolon IV (for nausea in pregnancy and in cancer patients) is not available. Verapamil oral (for high blood pressure) is also out of stock. Even paracetamol suppositories are unavailable.

¶ 04 Naloxone, a life-saving medicine for drug or medication overdose—if administered within three minutes of respiratory depression—can save lives, but it is unavailable in many hospitals. The Daily Mirror of 4 July 2025 reported: “Patients at the Colombo National Hospital are compelled to bring surgical and pharmaceutical items from outside, costing over Rs. 100,000 due to a severe shortage of critical drugs and surgical supplies,” including antibiotics, cardiac medicines, special painkillers, and other essentials.

¶ 05 For bypass surgeries, only a few hospitals—Colombo, Karapitiya, Kandy, Jaffna—perform them. Typically about 15 operations a day. Now a patient needs to bring about Rs. 100,000 upfront to buy items from outside. Doctors are even restricted from writing such prescriptions; if they do and someone complains to the Bribery Commission, they risk prison. Yet without those items the patient’s life is at risk.

¶ 06 For bypass, patients are asked to buy transparent dressings, suture materials, post-op dressings like Jelonet, Tegaderm waterproof dressings, and Arteriofix for BP monitoring linked to the IV—all by themselves. Heparin IV is given during bypass; to reverse it back to normal, Protamine Sulfate IV is needed—also unavailable in hospitals and must be bought privately. So patients spend around Rs. 100,000 for these essentials.

¶ 07 Additionally, if someone undergoes plastic surgery after a hand amputation or similar, Prolene sutures must be purchased privately. Chromic catgut and polyester sutures are unavailable in hospitals. SKINPLUS staplers are unavailable. Many covering materials for plastic surgery are lacking, even at the National Hospital in Colombo. This is the true situation.

¶ 08 You have been in power for a year. If you have international connections, use them, or bring these via proper tenders. At present, main IVs and key drugs are missing in hospitals. Therefore, I thank Hon. Kavinda Jayawardhana for bringing a PM Motion to strengthen the lab and ensure quality medicines.