By Buddhika Samaraweera in The Morning, Dec 8, 2022
Claiming that the shortage of pharmaceutical drugs and other medical supplies is growing more severe by the day, the All-Ceylon Nurses’ Union (ACNU) stated that the number of patients suffering from conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases, asthma, and cancer due to not receiving proper treatment has now increased, but that the deaths associated with the conditions are not recorded as having been caused by drug and medical shortages, but due to the aggravation of the said conditions instead.
Speaking to The Morning, ACNU President S.B. Mediwatte said: “The shortage of drugs and other medical supplies has now become commonplace. Hospitals do not have most of the drugs prescribed for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and kidney diseases, asthma, and cancers. If five types of drugs are to be given to patients, only two or three of them are issued by the hospitals at present. The patients need to buy the rest from pharmacies, but they do not have the means to do so.”
Speaking further, he said that the condition of patients suffering from the aforesaid conditions is currently worsening due to the hospitals not issuing medicines properly and patients being unable to purchase drugs and other medical supplies due to high prices. He also said that cases of patients dying due to the exacerbation of disease conditions due to the non-availability of proper treatment in hospitals are frequently reported, mostly in areas such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, and Ampara.
“Usually, there are clinics in many hospitals that dispense drugs for most of the non-communicable diseases, but at present, only a very limited number of medicinal drugs are dispensed from those clinics. As a result, the patients’ conditions worsen, but when they die, the autopsy reports do not say that the cause of death was not taking medication properly. Instead, it says that they died because of the worsening of the diseases that they had,” added Mediwatte.
He further said that the ACNU is currently working to obtain the related numerical data, as there is a clear increase in the number of patients dying in this manner. He said that many such deaths are superficially due to exacerbations of the disease, but that the real reason was that the patients had not been taking their medication properly. Apart from that, as a result of the non-availability of drugs, he said that the number of patients who are suffering from conditions such as diabetes and kidney failure, which in turn morph into conditions such as paralysis, has also increased.
Meanwhile, commenting on the shortage of plates required for the treatment of patients with fractured bones and hands at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo, Mediwatte said: “Currently, there is a shortage of various types of plates required to treat patients admitted to the NHSL with fractured bones. For example, there were five such patients who had come to the NHSL on a recent day, but there were no plates needed to treat them. Even though they were asked to purchase them, none of them could afford to buy them from the pharmacies, as they cost more than Rs. 80,000. In such cases, certain substitutes are used to treat them, but it can lead to some disorders later on.”
As the country is seeing a serious economic crisis at present, the relevant authorities have over the past few months been finding it difficult to procure the required US dollars to import pharmaceutical drugs and other medical supplies. Although the situation has subsided to some extent due to various grants and donations from several organisations and countries, the hospitals are still affected by the shortages of drugs and medical equipment. However, the Health Ministry has been stating over the recent past that the shortage of drugs and medical equipment is not at a serious level, and that the provision of treatment can be managed.
Meanwhile, the All-Ceylon Medical Officers’ Association recently stated that nearly three million people receiving treatment for non-communicable diseases, one million people suffering from preventable blindness, 10,000 patients on pending lists to undergo bypass surgery, and 10,000 cancer patients are currently seriously affected due to the prevailing shortage of drugs and medical equipment in the country. https://www.themorning.lk/drugs-supplies-shortage-within-hospitals-worsens/
