Economic Crisis | Drug shortages persist in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s health sector is still short of over 150 essential drugs

Sri Lanka’s painful economic crisis may have let up a little, mainly for those who can afford higher living costs, but shortages continue to affect its noted health care system, according to officials and medical practitioners.

Despite international lending agencies and bilateral partners, especially India, pumping in emergency credit, the health sector is still short of over 150 essential drugs. “We are trying our best to maintain an optimum level of supplies, but there is a shortage,” Dr. D.R.K. Herath, Deputy Director General of the Health Ministry’s Medical Supplies Division told The Hindu.

Also read: Also read: Urban poverty triples in Sri Lanka amid enduring crisis 

Compared to the severe shortages of fuel, food items, and medicinesthat Sri Lanka experienced earlier this year, when the government ran out of dollars, supplies have improved now, with the government rationing fuel, repurposing available funds, and obtaining support from bilateral partners, mainly India.

All the same, much of Sri Lanka’s fundamental economic challenges remain. In October headline inflation was at 66%, while food inflation was at 85.6%. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) External Fund Facilty (EFF), that Sri Lanka hoped would come through by the end of this year, may take longer, as Sri Lanka’s efforts to restructure its debt — a prerequisite for the EFF — appear delayed.

Meanwhile to cope with the short supply of drugs, hospitals are using a recently set up centralised system for supplies and coordinating among themselves. But the shortages are a “significant” factor for the day-to-day functioning of the country’s health sector, said Dr. Surantha Perera, Vice-President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association, a national-level professional body for practitioners. 

Drugs used for treatment of cancer are in short supply, doctors said, while pointing to a shortage of medical devices and reagents used for laboratory tests and investigations. Surgical supplies are inadequate and servicing medical equipment has become harder, they observed. “It is hard to quantify the impact of these shortages, but we can certainly say that it impacts the quality of medical care,” Dr. Perera said.