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Drugs shortage due to Govt. failure to fund NMRA: SLCPI
View(s):A continuing delay in bringing down essential drugs has been caused by Government failure to fund the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) President Col. (Rtd) Chandra Jayaratne claimed yesterday.
He said they expected the NMRA to perform as an independent body, to do a better and faster job when it was established in July this year, after the new Drug Regulatory Act was passed by Parliament.“The Government has now curtailed the inflow of pharmaceuticals that are emerging from research. Also, there is a shortage of staff at the NMRA, resulting in the delay of registering these new pharmaceuticals,” Col. Jayaratne said.He added, the SLCPI’s position is that Government should not stop medicines that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, because they are vital for the health of the local population.
“When the Government introduced the NMRA, they should have thought about staff requirements. They are still operating in a congested space. This has to change, and the NMRA must work cordially with the Pharmaceutical industry,” he said, explaining this will ensure Sri Lanka has sufficient quality drugs to treat the sick.
However, NMRA’s Chairman Prof. Lal Jayakody said the country has sufficient pharmaceutical drugs, but are constantly checking if there are new drugs that the country needs, and take necessary steps to import them.According to Prof. Jayakody, the NMRA has an overload of files for registration of drugs. He said they have stopped accepting new ones and are trying to clear the overload currently.
“We do have a shortage of staff. We have also informed the authorities about it,” he admitted, adding that, to fill this gap they need to identify the staff they require, get funds from the Treasury and see how the vacancies should be filled. “This takes time, but we have already started the process,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rajpal Abeynayake, writing as the appointed Attorney representing the SLCPI’s Secretariat, draws reference to last week’s the Sunday Times news item titled ‘No new drugs to be registered: NMRA’, says the comments made by Dr Ananda Wijewickrema, an NMRA member, and published in the newspaper, stating that no new medicinal drugs would be registered unless the importing company can provide substantial evidence of a product’s superior efficacy and has a cost advantage over the currently registered products.
He says Dr Wijewickrema, in alluding to an article he had written to a daily newspaper, had said wrong information had been given in it. “His comments raise many questions in the minds of the people regarding their future health and wellbeing,” he added.