Initiatives for Government-to-Government (G2G) procurements between Sri Lanka and India for medicinal drugs are presently being discussed, according to the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) of the Ministry of Health.

When contacted by The Sunday Morning regarding concerns raised by shortages in stocks of certain medicines, MSD Deputy Director General Dr. Sampath Ranaweera said: “We are working with the Indian Government on what they call G2G procurement. At most, we will experience a delay of a few weeks with medicinal supplies. We will somehow have the required medications in supply.”

However, Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) Media Spokesman Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said that market realities presented ongoing challenges for Sri Lanka in securing such agreements.

“Even during the previous Government, there were attempts at G2G agreements. We are yet to succeed in certain agreements. We are a very small market, so priority is not given to us.”Dr. Ranaweera also addressed the shortage of HIV-related medicines and anti-tuberculosis medicines that had been reported recently, stating that such medicines had been given freely by the Global Fund thus far.“That aid has now been stopped. It was stopped not because of any issue, but when the country moves to a different development bracket or status, they stop it. Now we have to procure such medicines,” he explained.

However, he was confident that Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical drug supply was in good standing at present. “Normally on any given day, there is a shortage of a few items. That is not a special situation,” he said.Dr. Ranaweera reiterated that the Government had approved local purchasing, the emergency procurement process for medication by State hospitals when essential medicines are out of stock at the central MSD.

Despite the reassurance, ongoing fluctuations in the availability of essential medicines and medical consumables across State healthcare facilities have been noted, primarily driven by persistent failures in inventory management and distribution rather than an absolute shortage of supply, according to the GMOA.Dr. Wijesinghe emphasized that while the health sector was not currently experiencing a “drastic” supply crisis that would halt overall patient care, systemic flaws in stock coordination continued to disrupt hospital operations.

He pointed out that operational gaps – including underutilization of digital tracking tools such as the Swastha database and limited warehousing infrastructure at the MSD – compromised medicine safety and delivery.“We need to have the stocks consistently within the system so that we can provide uninterrupted patient care services. We need high-quality medicines at a lower price. That is the basic principle of the national medicine policy,” he said.“We have the software system, but still we doubt whether the software system is properly used,” Dr. Wijesinghe said. “We need to take firm measures to regularize storage, distribution, and the management system. There is also a problem with the MSD storage capacity. Poor storage conditions can affect the quality of the medicines.”