Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has instructed relevant officials to pay their attention on the implementation of an efficient programme to distribute drugs to the hospitals through the local pharmaceutical manufacturinng factories.
The Minister said that according to the requirements of the respective hospitals, medicines and equipment should be directed to the hospitals without bringing them to the Medical Supplies Department under the supervision of the Medical Supplies Department.
This was revealed in a discussion held yesterday (28) at the Health Ministry regarding the current drug situation.
Health Ministry Secretary Janaka Chandragupta and a group of officials from the Ministry, a group of officials representing the Medical Supply Division, National Drug Regulatory Authority, State Pharmaceutical Corporation, Asian Development Bank also participated in that.
The minister instructed the officials to prepare a drug transport map covering the entire island and to do it with proper study.
Through direct distribution of drugs to hospitals by factories, many problems such as transportation costs, time taken, storage facilities etc. will be solved and in addition to this, it will be possible to identify the shortages of drugs in the hospital and distribute the drugs for that purpose.
In the meantime, the Minister of Health has instructed the officials to keep the stock of drugs within the Medical Supply Division for three months only and distribute other drugs to the hospitals without any delay, and to take measures to prevent shortage of drugs in the hospitals.
The Minister further pointed out that if the doctors or anyone in the health service makes any statement that there is no medicine in the hospital, which causes discomfort to the patients, then it should be investigated and immediate action should be taken.
Minister Rambukwella said that if there are problems related to the storage facilities for medicines, he will take steps to provide solutions to them in the next few weeks.
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