The Island
The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) plans to request President Mahinda Rajapaksa to appoint an independent committee to investigate efficacy of drugs being used in hospitals immediately as low quality drugs have endangered lives of patients.
The GMOA representing 14,000 doctors had no faith in the existing drug distribution system, storage processes and drug quality assurance systems because several incidents of piece of glass in antibiotic solutions and hormone solutions had been detected over the past few weeks, GMOA General Secretary Dr. Bimantha Gunasakare told a media conference held at GMOA headquarters yesterday.
Dr. Gunasakare said the GMOA had lost faith in drug distribution procedure. Glass remnants had been detected in injection solutions in Ratnapura and Elpitiya. Had they been administered to patients, lives would have been lost, he said.
The Health Ministry had appointed a committee to probe alleged medical negligence but neither an acceptable interim report nor full report on specimen sent for investigation had revealed any negligence, Dr. Gunasakare said.
GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Chandana Atapattu said that health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had made a complaint to the CID that some doctors had conspired against the Ministry and introduced pieces of glass into phials containing solutions.
He added that the GOMA had decided to bring to the notice of the President Rajapaksa the flaws in the drug distribution system. The storage facilities and quality assurance system were outdated, Dr. Atapattu said.
Dr. Atapattu said that doctors would never descend to the low level of tampering with medical solutions. The committee appointed by the Health Ministry should find the culprits and they must be prosecuted, he said.