New Medical Act to be devised

President Ranil Wickremesinghe directed the formulation of a new Medical Act within six months with the aim of addressing shortcomings in the present Medical Ordinance. 

At a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat today (02),a high level committee consisting of the Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Legal Draftsman and the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council was assigned to examined the provisions of the Medical Ordinance and formulate a new Medical Act with appropriate provisions. 

President Wickremesinghe emphasized the need for a web-based system to provide real time information on available medicines and their distribution among hospitals. 

To address immediate medical needs, an additional allocation or Rs.30 billion was approved under the provision allocated to the Ministry of Health, sufficient for the next three months. 

The President instructed the Health Ministry and the National Medicines Regulatory Authority(NMRA) to draft a proposal for establishing WHO standard benchmark 4 to assess the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products. 

At the meeting health officials were directed to immediately submit a list of unusable hospital equipment and equipment or related material that will expire or be removed within two years.