DailyMirror
Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to appoint a commission to look into the issues in the state health sector as demanded by the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) as early as possible, a ministry spokesman said.
The GMOA had requested President Rajapaksa to appoint the ad-hoc committee to inquire in to the issues pertaining to public health, mainly the recent complaints on the supply of substandard drugs, spokesman W.M.D. Wannianyaka said.
“The minister was of the view that the country would know the correct position in respect to these problems that affected the state health sector,” he said.
The health administration and management was mainly handled by medical professionals who were members of the GMOA including the ministry secretary and Director General. Hence, the GMOA was partly responsible for any lapses, negligence or mishaps taking place at state health institutions, he added.
Commenting on the low quality of drugs at state health institutions, Wanninayaka said the entire procedure of calling tenders, tender evaluation, quality assurance and testing of drugs was carried out by professionals of each subject. They must be held responsible if sub standard drugs were supplied to the hospitals, he said.
Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) had agreed to provide two million AH1N1 vaccines on the request of Minister de Silva to control the fast spreading disease.