Friday 19th December, 2025

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has accused the government of interfering with the ongoing disaster relief programmes. Speaking in Parliament, on Thursday, he produced what he described as documentary proof to support his claim that disaster victims were required to have their applications for compensation endorsed by the heads of the Prajashakthi committees controlled by the JVP apparatchiks. Several other Opposition MPs have levelled the same allegation against the government in Parliament.

Two trade unions representing the Grama Niladharis have complained of political interference with their work, and even threatened to pull out of the disaster relief programmes unless they are allowed to carry out their duties and functions, free from political pressure.

Sri Lanka United Grama Niladhari Association (SLUGNA) President Nandana Ranasinghe told the media on 08 December that JVP/NPP politicians and their supporters were meddling with the disaster relief programmes at all levels and even obstructing the Grama Niladharis (GNs). He claimed that the political authority had sent letters to the District and Divisional Secretaries, directing them to appoint JVP/NPP members to the state-run welfare centres. SLUGNA Secretary Jagath Chandralal said state officials had been directed to obtain approval from the government members of the Prajashakthi committees for carrying out relief work. A few days later, addressing the media, Convenor of the Sri Lanka Grama Niladhari Association Sumith Kodikara also made a number of similar allegations. He said the NPP politicians were arbitrarily helping their supporters obtain Rs. 25,000 each as compensation. He stressed that only the disaster victims had to be paid compensation, and never had disaster relief programmes been politicised in that manner. These allegations are shocking enough to warrant probes, as we said in a previous comment.

Initially, the government denied the involvement of its Prajashakthi members in the process of selecting disaster relief beneficiaries, but now it allows them to work alongside state officials openly. This is an instance of the arrogance of power, which became the undoing of several previous governments, especially the ones led by the UNP and the SLPP. Minister K. D. Lal Kantha has gone on record as claiming that the Prajashakthi functionaries too should have a say in relief provision!

Funds the government is distributing among disaster victims belong to the state, and therefore no political party must be allowed to influence or control their disbursement. One can argue that it is prima facie unlawful for anyone other than authorised public officials to get involved in the process of distributing state funds as disaster relief. The Opposition should find out whether there is any legal provision for the involvement of the Prajashakthi functionaries in relief distribution or whether they are committing a transgression.

The government is apparently labouring under the mistaken belief that it can use disaster relief to shore up its approval rating as well as electoral prospects in view of the next election––the Provincial Council polls which it is coming under increasing pressure to hold next year. Political interference with disaster relief only exasperates the public beyond measure. A large number of disaster victims have held protests in several areas, claiming that they have been overlooked.

The JVP/NPP, which came to power promising to depoliticise the state institutions and revitalise the public service, should be ashamed of having stooped so low as to politicise the process of providing disaster relief. Politicians have a sense of shame only when they are out of power.

If the JVP/NPP leaders are wise, they will learn from the predicament of the Rajapaksas, who had to pay a heavy price for testing the patience of the public. The latter had to head for the hills with angry people in close pursuit. Now that the people have successfully got rid of a bunch of failed rulers, they may take to the streets again if their patience runs out. The government would do well to follow the established procedures in carrying out disaster relief programmes, without subjugating them to its political agenda and undermining their integrity.

Thursday 18th December, 2025

Serious concerns raised by Sri Lankan medical professionals over the quality of some batches of the Ondansetron injection, manufactured by Maan Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., India, and the subsequent withdrawal of them from hospitals here, have shed light on a bigger issue. The use of nine other parenteral products has been suspended with immediate effect, according to media reports. They will be subjected to quality assessment, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has said.

Spokesman for the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe has stressed the need for thorough tests on Ondansetron. He has told the media that the NMRA is responsible for testing imported pharmaceuticals for quality. However, Health Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa has told the media during the weekly post-Cabinet media that not all drugs imported by Sri Lanka are tested by the NMRA for quality, as it lacks laboratory facilities to do so, and drugs are tested rigorously only if there are complaints of adverse reactions. Is it that the NMRA goes by what pharmaceutical companies say about their products when it approves medicines? The present-day politicians and the health panjandrums have not learnt from the procurement of fake cancer drugs during the previous regime.

Minister Dr. Jayatissa has sought to give the drug controversy a political twist. He has said Ondansetron manufactured by Maan was approved for five years, in 2022, the implication being that the previous government was responsible for the registration of the drug. He hastened to add that proper procedures had been followed in procuring it. Interestingly, among the four batches of Ondansetron found to be contaminated, two were imported under the current dispensation! The NPP government has passed laws to deprive the former Presidents of their retirement entitlements and evict them from their official residences, and it came to power, promising to renegotiate the IMF agreement. So, cancelling the registration of any drug that does not meet stipulated standards should be child’s play for the powerful NPP administration.

On the question of quality issues concerning Indian drugs, it is worth recalling that in the late 1980s, the JVP assassinated Chairperson of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation Dr. (Mrs) Gladys Jayewardene for importing drugs from India, which the JVP likened to a giant octopus spreading its tentacles over Sri Lanka. About three and a half decades on, the JVP-led NPP government has gone to the extent of recognising the Indian Pharmacopoeia amidst protests from Sri Lankan medical professionals!

Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, who leads the Doctors’ Trade Union Alliance for Medical Civil Rights, has said more than 100 batches of medicines imported from India have been withdrawn during the past two years or so due to concerns about their quality. Flaying the Health Ministry, the NMRA, and State Pharmaceutical Corporation for serious flaws in drug regulation, he has called for the resignation of the top officials responsible for ensuring the quality of imported medicines. Health Minister Dr. Jayatissa should also resign as he has retained the officials responsible for the registration of substandard and falsified drugs in the past, Dr. Sanjeewa has said. The most serious issue, in our book, is that the NMRA is without adequate laboratory facilities to conduct stringent quality tests on all medicines it approves, and apparently takes leaps of faith, leaving patients at risk. Successive governments have paid lip service to the need for state-of-the-art labs to test medicines and ensure that they meet international standards. The NMRA must be fully equipped to test all drugs properly before they are approved, and no room must be left for the import of substandard and falsified medicines.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least one in 10 medical products in low-and middle-income countries fails to meet quality standards or is falsified. This shows the enormity of the problem of falsified and substandard drugs. Quality failures of pharmaceuticals not only harm patients directly but also impose large economic burdens on individuals and health systems, including wasted resources on ineffective treatments and costs related to managing adverse effects, WHO has pointed out. The need for a thorough investigation to find out why the NMRA approved the aforesaid drugs cannot be overstated.

Wednesday 17th December, 2025

The Colombo Port is always in the news for the wrong reasons. More than 300 container trucks loaded with cargo are waiting within its premises due to a clearance delay, according to a report we published yesterday. The Container Transport Vehicle Owners’ Association has urged the government to take action to eliminate the port delays forthwith. It has warned that there will be a shortage of essential commodities soon if delays persist. Additional expenditure incurred by the truck operators due to port delays will be passed on to the public, the association has said. One of the reasons for these delays is said to be the inflow of disaster relief materials that need to be cleared on a priority basis. However, the Colombo Port experiences delays even when there is no influx of disaster relief.

Port delays take a heavy toll on exports as well. As we have pointed out in a previous comment, quoting a former Navy officer, the Coast Guard personnel are qualified to handle Customs operations and they can be called in to help ease port congestion. The government should seriously consider doing so.

In January 2025, protracted delays in the Colombo Port jolted the government into purportedly devising ways and means of doing away with them. But the problem is far from over. The government made use of the delays to have 323 red-flagged containers released via the green channel without Customs checks. The possibility of racketeers making the most of the current situation to have containers carrying contraband green-channelled cannot be ruled out. The Opposition, the media, trade unions and port workers must remain vigilant to thwart such a move.

Delays drive away major shipping lines. It has been reported that several international shipping lines have opted to bypass the Colombo Port, which is facing escalating congestion due to various factors related mainly to capacity and efficiency.

What the NPP government and the top port officials must realise is that the Colombo Port is not the only girl on the beach, as it were. India’s newly built Vizhinjam port is becoming a major attraction for international shippers who are averse to delays. In global logistics, shipping lines place very high value on on-time delivery, reliability and efficient operations.

Vizhinjam poses numerous challenges to the Colombo Port. The government must take cognisance of this reality and make a serious effort to enhance the efficiency and capacity of the Colombo Port to retain the transhipment traffic historically routed via Colombo. There is a strong possibility of shipping lines rerouting feeder services away from Colombo to Vizhinjam, adversely impacting Colombo’s network role, as shipping experts have warned.

Vizhinjam has several key advantages over Colombo. It advertises itself as a deep-water port with a 24 m natural draft, which enables it to accommodate ultra-large container vessels without dredging; its proximity to the main east–west shipping route helps vessels to call without significant deviation, reducing voyage time and costs. Automation, modern cranes, faster turnaround times, enhanced operational efficiency and attractiveness to shipping lines are other advantages India’s new port has over Colombo.

Experts have urged Sri Lanka to adopt a viable mitigation strategy to face competition from Vizhinjam effectively. The Colombo Port has to enhance its efficiency, cost proposition, capacity, and service differentiation, while strengthening its role as a comprehensive logistics and maritime hub rather than a pure transshipment stop, they have pointed out. Sadly, successive governments have ignored expert opinion and done precious little to retain the Colombo Port’s competitiveness, much less prepare it to face future challenges. They have only adopted piecemeal remedies and, worse, turned the premier port into a playground for rival global powers.

The incumbent government has failed to make a difference despite its rhetoric. If strategic modernisation and operational improvements are not effected to the Colombo Port urgently to enable it to eliminate delays and enhance its efficiency and the quality of its service significantly-à-vis the emerging rival facilities in the region, it will run the risk of diminishing its relevance.