Public response to ‘A health contingency plan essential to face SL’s economic crisis'

this week received many calls from the public that the economic crisis has already heavily impacted on the health sector and that state hospitals were requesting patients to buy their own drugs privately.

This followed the publication of ‘A health contingency plan essential to face SL’s economic crisis’, a succinct analysis of the dangers which could be brought on by the current economic crisis by Dr. Lakshman Edirisinghe of the Government Medical Professionals’ Association ( GMPA) last week in the Sunday Times.

Many people told us that common medications given from regular clinics of state hospitals were not available in the hospitals and they were asked to buy them “from outside”.

Just this Friday, a person presented us with a prescription written on the usual clinic book which is an exercise book and pointed out that of nine medications prescribed he had to buy five.

They were clopidogrel ( an anti- platelet medication used to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke); amlodipine (a medication to treat high blood pressure); bisoprolol ( a medication used commonly for heart disease); ivabradine ( used to treat heart failure); and pantoprazole ( to ward off some stomach and esophagus problems such as acid reflux).

“It cost me Rs. 3,155.10 to get these medications from Osu Sala,” the patient lamented, adding that this was just one month’s supply.