Advocata recommends Govt. to constitute procurement law to mitigate medicine shortage

In recent times, the country’s healthcare system has been burdened by a shortage of essential medicines. Among various contributing factors, the current procurement processes have played a significant role in delaying the arrival of consignments. 

While medicine shortages have been an ongoing issue since the economic crisis, the delays in approval timelines and coordination problems within the healthcare system are unacceptable. According to Swastha, the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) medical supplies information system, there is a current shortage of 300 essential medicines required to treat critical ailments. It is crucial to address ongoing procurement challenges, as these persistent issues will only exacerbate the current shortages at the cost of Sri Lankan lives.

The shortage of certain essential medicines can also be attributed to issues with the quality of drugs being imported into the country, highlighting the importance of competitive bidding in the procurement process. Authorities evaluating tenders have cancelled those that included suppliers offering substandard medicines, yet they have failed to reissue tenders or invite bids to import these critical supplies. A competitive bidding process, when implemented correctly, involves setting clear quality standards and requirements, which encourages suppliers to provide high-quality products. Additionally, competitive bidding can help eliminate monopolies created by preferential drug registration practices, ensuring a more level playing field that promotes fairness and reduces the risk of a few suppliers dominating the procurement process.

Medical authorities have emphasised the urgent need for a systematic approach to addressing the national medicine supply crisis highlighting the importance of streamlining procurement, improving transparency, and ensuring effective coordination among stakeholders to prevent supply disruptions. While the current procurement guidelines, which were recently published, ensure adherence to best practices, the necessary laws and regulations that mandate these processes in public sector procurement are yet to be established. 

A well-defined procurement law would create a clear legal framework for public procurement, providing a strong foundation for enforcing standards and principles. 

This would make it easier to hold violators accountable, as non-compliance with such laws and regulations would lead to legal consequences or even international sanctions.

The Advocata Institute urges the Government to establish a comprehensive procurement law aimed at improving accountability, efficiency, quality and competitiveness of public procurement. A standard framework for purchasing goods and services also ensures efficient operation of SOEs across different sectors of the economy and ensures that large-scale infrastructure projects are managed effectively and that public resources are used to achieve the greatest possible benefit for society. 

For the healthcare system, efficient and transparent procurement is vital to ensuring equitable, cost-effective, and high-quality healthcare services for millions of Sri Lankans who depend on the public healthcare infrastructure. A procurement law which codifies these will establish clear processes that will help reduce corruption, increase competition, and ensure accountability and transparency which will optimise the use of public funds and strengthen the overall healthcare system.