Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, says the current shortage of certain medicines in the country is due to the previous government bypassing the proper tender process when importing medicine.
To address the issue, the government has allocated Rs. 35 billion to hospitals for regional-level medicine purchases, he said.
Commenting further, the Minister stated, “The issue of not being able to supply medicines now is a result of not holding a tender last year. If a tender had been called, the medicines would have been delivered properly. We have now initiated the tendering process for next year.”
Dr. Jayatissa further noted that the government has taken two steps to manage the temporary shortage. First, Rs. 35 billion has been allocated to hospitals for regional purchases. Second, the government is in discussions with several countries to obtain medicines as donations from time to time.
Furthermore, he added that the government has reached the stage of signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with some countries, which will help resolve the issue more effectively.
