Coming two months will be tough – Health Minister tells unionists

by Rathindra Kuruwita

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday (25) told health sector unions that the government would not reduce the expenditure on healthcare.

Wickremesinghe met unionists at his office to discuss the issues faced by the health sector. The Prime Minister also instructed officials to look into the salary cut of health sector staff. He said that the government would reduce the allowances given to state sector employees, but the health sector would be exempted.

Unionists criticised the recent actions of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA). They claimed that a large number of issues faced by the health sector were due to the actions of the NMRA.

The Prime Minister instructed Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to encourage domestic production of pharmaceuticals and remove the barriers on donations. Unionists said that the health Ministry still discouraged donations because it preferred emergency purchases.

The Prime Minister also said that the NMRA and the Health Ministry must work together and that the two parties must complement each other.

Wickremesinghe agreed that there was were irregularities in medical purchases , especially in buying reagents needed for various tests. Unionist Ravi Kumudesh said that the ministry had been purchasing reagents at a higher cost although cheaper mucch beetter quality alternatives were available.

Health Minister said that it would take at least two months to address the issues and that the coming two months would extremely difficult.