Deaths in Gambia, Indonesia due to low quality medicines: SL could be next victim – CMLS

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The government must take a good look at the quality control of medicines in Sri Lankan markets, given the tragic situations in Gambia and Indonesia, President, College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS), Ravi Kumudesh, told The Island yesterday.

“We are very proud of our achievements in healthcare. However, for sometime a lot of important decisions have been taken according to the whims and fancies of certain individuals. When it comes to quality control of medicines, a few people check documents and decide to approve or reject them arbitrarily.”

Kumudesh said that in many countries, laboratory tests are conducted before granting approval for medicines. Sri Lanka does not do so. Tests are only conducted if serious concerns arise with regards to the quality of a medicine, he said.

“Like in Gambia and Indonesia, we will only subject drugs to a test when a few people die. Indonesian officials found that there were compounds that can lead to long term kidney issues in the syrup that led to the deaths of children. The only reason we have escaped such a tragedy is sheer luck. We don’t have the machinery needed to test the quality of drugs. We don’t have the technical experts. Our experts in the Health Ministry buy the most expensive medicines saying that high quality drugs are expensive. This is a play to make pharmaceutical companies rich,” he said.