The All Ceylon Health Services Union (ACHSU) has blamed the Health Ministry for an alleged shortage, at the Colombo National Hospital and other government hospitals, of drugs required to treat patients affected by hypertension and high blood pressure.

The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) is also alleged to have stocked 17 containers with expired and low-quality drugs and surgical items imported last year.

ACHSU president Gamini Kumarasinghe told The Island that although the Health Ministry had taken steps to replenish drugs, some medicines needed to treat patients with high cholesterol and hypertension were out of stock at government hospitals. In-house patients were forced to purchase the required drugs from private pharmacies, he claimed.

He pointed out that needy patients who could not afford to purchase those critical drugs would stop using them. As a result they would develop serious health complications, he warned.

Referring to the 17 containers of expired and ‘quality-failure’ drugs, allegedly stored at SPC headquarters, Kumarasinghe said several kinds of expensive drugs imported recently could not be distributed to hospitals due to concerns over their quality.

Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, dismissing the ACHSU allegations, explained that a drug information chart was sent to all hospital directors every year and they were supposed to place orders, adding 20 per cent to the annual requirements. It had been the practice, he said.

He said all hospitals had been instructed since 2002 to hand over expired and ‘quality-failure’ drugs to the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation as hospital directors did not have the power to destroy these stocks.

The Minister said the SPC had been collecting these types of drugs from all government hospitals.

The 17 containers did not contain drugs imported last year, he pointed out. He said those containers were being maintained because some drug companies had agreed to reimburse the expenses of certain purchases.