Funds released to purchase medicine

The Treasury has released Rs. 1 billion to purchase drugs under Letters of Credit, the Health Ministry has said.  

However, tenders will not be issued for the purchasing of drugs, Health, Nutrition, and Indigenous Medicine Ministry Media Secretary Wiraj Abeysinghe said, refuting media reports claiming that the Ministry, via State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC), will be opening tenders to purchase drugs, including medication used for cancer treatment.

“The Treasury has released Rs. 1,000 million to the Ministry for the purchase of essential drugs,” he said. 

According to a statement issued by the Ministry last week, the Ministry, via SPC, will be purchasing 24 essential drugs for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), better known as the Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama.

The statement also stated the Health and Indigenous Medical Services Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi had also emphasised the need to update the procedure followed for the purchasing of drugs.

Abeysinghe explained that the current system followed by the Ministry uses Letters of Credit (LC), which is a payment mechanism used in international trade where an economic guarantee is issued by a creditworthy bank to the exporter.

Due to a lack of fund allocations to the Ministry, however, Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank, two State-owned institutes the Ministry banks with, had stopped issuing LCs. This meant that the import of drugs was put on hold.

According to the Ministry, the shortage of drugs will be solved in the upcoming months as banks are now issuing LCs, thus facilitating the purchase of drugs.