Food and medicine need to be saved from jaws of exploitation

by Milinda Rajasekera

(September 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The basic instinct of self-preservation has always made people cry out against threats to life that come from terrorism and armed conflicts as their impact is immediate and direct. But they have not been as noisy as that against such things as unhygienic food and harmful medicine. This is because the ill effects of these items on human life are slow and often indiscernible. It is encouraging, however, that public attitudes have now changed mainly as a result of media exposures of fraud and racketeering in food and medicine supplied to the people.

It is this public awakening that has apparently made authorities to pay greater attention to the state of food and medicine made available to the people. With the authorities stepping up their inspections and raids, media reports about fraud, corruption and other misdemeanours in these trades have become common. The situation is so bad that hardly a day passes without cases of fraud or corruption being reported in the media.

Reports say that hotels, eateries, snack bars and other food outlets, particularly in Colombo, are raided practically every day. Recently, Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) launched a campaign against bad food packets kept for sale in the city. The authorities have found that hundreds of Colombo hotels are run without obtaining the required licences from the council. The campaign to ensure the supply of safe food to the consumers is indeed commendable but the accomplishment of this task is not easy because of the limited personnel and resources available to the authorities to carry out these exercises without interruption. The authorities also have to contend with the problem of officials falling prey to bribery and corruption.

The field of healthcare services and medicine provided to the people also is replete with numerous and intricate problems. Fraud, corruption, lethargy and incompetence that sully these services overshadow the good and dedicated services provided to the people in both public and private hospitals and other institutions. It was only a few days ago that two officers of the Health Ministry who were allegedly involved in fraudulent activity in the import of medicinal drugs were interdicted. Apart from major cases of fraud and corruption that are reported in the media, various irregularities committed at every level in the state health services are legion.

More serious matters that need urgent attention are many. Among those that need priority attention is the formulation of a national drug policy on the lines of Senaka Bibile policy outlined in 1970.

Despite the efforts made by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, the conditions remain unaltered. Many things needed to be done remain undone whatever the reasons for the failure. For instance, the post of Director, Colombo National Hospital still remains unfilled for more than two months despite the fact that the Public Service Commission (PSC) has instructed the Health Ministry to hold an interview to select a suitable person to fill the vacancy created after the retirement of Dr.Hector Weerasinghe two months ago.

More serious matters that need urgent attention are many. Among those that need priority attention is the formulation of a national drug policy on the lines of Senaka Bibile policy outlined in 1970. Drawing attention to this long-felt need, Professor Carlo Fonseka has said in the course of his recent lecture in memory of Dr. K. Balasubramaniam, that the present deadly mess and muddle in the medicinal drug market is the delay in the establishment of the National Medicinal Drug Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) and the implementation of a comprehensive National Medicinal Drugs Policy (NMDP).

Although the country needed only 350 varieties of drugs according to the Senaka Bibile Policy, more than 9,000 varieties of drugs including most expensive and non-essential brands of drugs are registered for import, prescription and sale in the country, the Professor has pointed out. As a result of such excessive drug imports, he says, the National Drugs Quality Assurance Laboratory is unable find the human or technical resources to ensure the quality of the drugs being imported. The plight of the users of these drugs could well be imagined.

Professor Fonseka’s indictment has to be taken serious note of by all concerned. He states,“A National Standing Committee comprising eminent medical personalities was appointed to prepare the legislation and it did so. The Mahinda Chinthanaya for the 2005 presidential election assured that the NMDP would be implemented. So did the Mahinda Chinthanaya future vision for the 2010 presidential election. Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena when he took office in April last year, promised he would implement the NMDP soon. But that ‘soon’ seems to be one of the longest words in the dictionary.” As Professor Fonseka says, “if the government is serious about its commitment to patriotism and to the good health of the people as the foundation for a wealthy nation, then it needs to act fast and effectively to implement the NMDP.”

True, the authorities are taking action to ensure safe medicinal drugs to the people. They conduct raids at pharmacies and other places. The media reported on Thursday that 189 pharmacies had been fined for various violations of the National Drugs and Cosmetic Devices Act. The raids have revealed that some pharmacies were without qualified pharmacists while some others were found promoting drugs not registered under the NCDDRA.

These exercises of inspections and raids, no doubt, are important. But what is equally or more important is the preparation of a sound background fortified by legal provisions to prevent the business sector whose main motive is profit, from exploiting vital needs of the people. This fraternity makes people ill after feeding unhygienic food and supply bad medicine to remedy such ailments.

Therefore, all avenues for these sections who are in the business of supplying food, medicine and other essential commodities to the people, to make undue profit at the cost people’s lives, have to be closed through the adoption and enforcement of stringent laws, rules and regulations. Obviously they have little concern for the welfare of the people or well-being of the country. If there are any in this sector with such concerns, they indeed are few and far between.