GMOA not amused by Health Minister’s attempt to downplay current crisis as nothing new 

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The Health Minister and senior officials were pretending that the current crisis in the health sector was nothing out of the ordinary and that the country had faced similar situations before, Secretary of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), Dr. Haritha Aluthge told The Island.

“If this is nothing out of the ordinary, why appoint expert committees?” he asked.

Dr. Aluthge said that the number of emergency purchases had skyrocketed. In 2021, there were around 200 instances of emergency purchases, he said.

“In 2022, they increased to 700. There have been over 250 emergency purchases so far this year. Now, we purchase most of our drugs through emergency purchases,” he said.