The Ministry of Health states that there is a shortage of certain drugs and equipment in government hospitals and plans have been made to manage the problem and ensure a continuous supply of medicines.
The Ministry of Health quotes the Government Information Department as saying that some drugs were in short supply due to the inability to open letters of credit on time due to foreign exchange difficulties and several remedial measures have been identified and are now being implemented.
One of them is to open letters of credit and order medicines and equipment under the Indian Concessional Loan Facility.
Second, it has received $ 10 million in funding from the World Bank to buy drugs.
In addition, the Ministry is in discussions with the World Health Organization and the Asian Development Bank to obtain medicine or funding for medicines.
Sri Lankans living abroad, have been urged to donate medicines or money to purchase medicines.
The ministry said they had already received a positive response.
The Ministry of Health has pointed out that the statement issued by the Government Information Department yesterday quoting an official source that there is no shortage of drugs in government hospitals should be corrected considering the above-mentioned facts.
