National Drugs Policy will be tabled at next budget debate

– Vasu

By Revata S. Silva

Trade unionist and the Minister of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkra, yesterday (24) pledged the long-awaited National Medicinal Drugs Policy (NMDP), based on the concepts of Prof. Senaka Bibile, will be tabled at the next govt. budget debate.

He was speaking at the AGM of the People’s Movement for the Rights of Patients (PMRP), founded by the late Dr. K. Balasubramaniam, a prominent follower of Prof. Bibile, at the CSR hall at the Fatima Church premises in Colombo.

"Amid many setbacks in the national health sector, there is a new ray of hope now. These positives should soon reach their climax. The NMDP bill is to be tabled during the next budget debate," said Nanayakkara to the applause of the audience which included Prof. Carlo Fonseka and other leading members of the PMRP.

Another activist in the decades long battle for the implementation of the NMDP, Ms. Chintha Abeywardena, who has done numerous research on the drugs industry and trade in Sri Lanka, warned if the policy is implemented without setting up a correct system in the entire health sector, the maximum benefits of the initiative will not reach the masses.

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