The use of ‘Prednisolone’, an eye drop imported from India, has been withdrawn with immediate effect, as per a directive issued by the Ministry of Health.

Accordingly, the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) of the Ministry noted that the supply of the drug to all hospitals has also been suspended.

Speaking on the matter, Dr. Prasad Colombage, a member of the executive committee of the Government Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA) stated that all general procedures and surgeries at the National Eye Hospital have been temporarily halted since 14 April after a few patients were diagnosed  with a concerning bacterial infection in the eye.

Dr. Colombage further stated that the suspected cause for the said infections and complications suffered post-surgery by the patients is believed to be the use of the Indian eye drop.

Thus, he called on the Ministry of Health to take all required measures in this regard, and to conduct further investigations and tests on the imported drug.

Meanwhile, he also added that the National Eye Hospital expects to resume to normalcy on Monday (24 April).

This is the second time the Ministry of Health has withdrawn the use of an Indian drug within local hospitals.

Earlier this month, the MSD temporarily withdrew the use of three categories of an anaesthetic drug used for surgeries in Sri Lanka.

They explained that the decision was taken owing to the fact that the quality of the drug cannot be tested within the island, and was brought based solely on its  performance in other countries and the relevant certificates provided by India.