The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa questioned the Government’s reported move to procure medicines through government-to-government agreements, asking which countries and medicines are involved, why normal competitive procurement is being bypassed, and whether the process complies with the NMRA Act and procurement guidelines. He sought confirmation of reported shortages of 313 medicines and 111 items without suppliers, requested hospital-wise shortage data, and asked whether local production capacity and industry impact had been assessed with stakeholder input. He also asked how transparency, quality assurance, and accountability would be ensured under G2G procurement, particularly if substandard medicines are supplied. He further raised delays in purchasing Elekta radiotherapy machines, disruptions to MRI and CT services at the National Hospital due to PACS issues, and the release of a CT scanner reportedly held at the port for Kalutara Hospital.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Question by Private Notice
¶ 02 Government's Initiative to Eliminate Shortage of Drugs
¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, under Standing Order 27(2), I raise the following:
¶ 04 - Health is a human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in the Government’s policy statement “A Prosperous Country - A Beautiful Life,” which also commits to efficient, transparent financing and eradicating corruption in the health service.
¶ 05 Accordingly, I ask the Hon. Minister of Health:
¶ 06 1. Has a Cabinet Memorandum been presented seeking approval to import medicines under a government-to-government (G2G) mechanism? If so, with which countries are agreements intended, what medicines are to be imported, and what is the Government’s objective in procuring via G2G rather than standard competitive procurement? It is alleged a Cabinet paper proposes imports in violation of the NMRA Act and guidelines; please clarify. Reports indicate 313 medicines are currently in shortage and 111 medicines have no suppliers; please confirm.
¶ 07 2. What is the Government’s assessment of the risk of a nationwide drug shortage? Will the Government table the current hospital-wise shortage list? Are the short-supplied medicines producible domestically? Has a comprehensive study been done?
¶ 08 3. Before entering G2G agreements, has the Ministry assessed the impact on the local pharmaceutical industry, and will such assessments be tabled? Were views of SLCPI and other stakeholders obtained?
¶ 09 Further, who bears accountability in G2G if substandard drugs are supplied? There were past instances of substandard drugs causing blindness; what accountability and recourse exist under G2G?
¶ 10 4. What mechanisms will ensure transparency and accountability in G2G drug procurements, and how will quality assurance be guaranteed?
¶ 11 5. Funds have reportedly been allocated to procure Elekta Infinity HD radiotherapy machines for selected hospitals, yet purchases have not occurred, delaying cancer treatment. What caused the delay and what urgent solutions will be provided?
¶ 12 Additionally, MRI and CT scanning at the National Hospital have reportedly been curtailed due to non-functioning of the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), allegedly over unpaid dues. Please intervene to restore PACS, as CT and MRI services are limited. Further, a CT scanner ordered for the Kalutara (Nagoda) Hospital, in your district, has been stuck at the port since 14 February; kindly expedite its release.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 9 May 2025 ·No. 1748600585013314 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/24713
Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 May 2025. No. 1748600585013314. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/24713