News
Steep rise in prices of essential drugs and medical equipment
The government yesterday revised the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) upward by 10 per cent for some 60 vital medicines and medical equipment. This came while traders associations warned of a possible food scarcity by the end of this year as shortage of dollars coupled with further depreciation of the rupee had affected the import of essential goods.
Accordingly, pharmacies are allowed to increase the prices of some of the widely used medicines for diabetic, asthma, and cardiac diseases. Some of the drugs, particularly- Antiulcerants; used for gastric and ulcer, Anticonvulsants; for epilepsy difficulties and Antirheumatic- a painkiller are among the drugs whose prices saw an acute increase.
For example, the price of a blood glucose monitoring system which was sold at Rs 3,150.00 earlier increased to 3,433.50.
On August 19 a gazette notification was issued by the newly appointed Health Minister Keheliya Ramukwella detailing the revised price list of 60 drugs and medical care equipment including stents and material needed for optical treatment amending the previous gazette issued on May 15, 2019.
“The price revise is caused by the dollar shortage in the country and the ongoing global pandemic which affected the manufacturing of these vital drugs in the global market,” a certified pharmacist said while pointing out that even though the MRP list was issued, most of these drugs were being sold at higher prices in the local market.
Meanwhile, the prices of imported essential food items have increased because of the further depreciation of the rupee value. The retail price of sugar went up to Rs 190 a kilo, Sardine to Rs 375, Mysore dhal to Rs 240 and Mung beans Rs 900 a kilo.
In addition, prices of imported sprats, dried fish, and cowpea have also increased significantly.
The Essential Food Importers Association said that unless the importers were provided with dollars from the banks they would not be able to import essential goods in the near future.
A spokesman explained that the government needed to address the issue urgently because if the importers are unable to place orders for the imports now, scarcity of essential food items would be unavoidable.
The spokesman said though the government encouraged growing the needed essential food items locally, there were certain items that had to be imported as the cultivated quantity was not sufficient.
Meanwhile bakery owners too said that they were going ahead with a price hike of bread, bread products and cakes.
Bakery Owners Association president N.K Jayawardane told the Sunday Times they would increase the price of bread by Rs 5, bread products by Rs 10 and cakes by Rs. 100 a kilo.
He said since the government failed to respond to the proposed hike, they would go ahead with the increase.
He also added that even though they decided to increase prices of bakery products, the amount was not sufficient as there was a reduction in sales recently. “That’s why we have decided not to further increase prices.”