Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella states that the government has introduced a program in order to prevent a shortage of medicines in the future.The Minister points out that accordingly, the government has taken measures to make the procurement procedure of importing medicines more efficient.Rambukwella made these comments joining a press conference held at the Presidential Media Centre under the theme “Towards a stable country - All in one direction”.Minister Rambukwella further expressed that, 190 out of 800 types of medicines used in Sri Lanka are still lacking in the Central Medicines Stores.“But only around 90 types of medicines are lacking in the hospitals”, he said, mentioning that the situation can still be controlled.“I spoke to the Cabinet of Ministers and also to the President several times regarding the matter.

I hope to submit a detailed report on the current situation to the Cabinet tomorrow”, the minister emphasized.“I believe that we have taken a number of steps to correct the prevailing shortage of medicines”, he claimed.