By Rathindra Kuruwita

Health Ministry officials must take steps to use Rs 321 billion allocated for health by the 2023 budget to solve the severe drug shortage, Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge told The Island yesterday.The GMOA Secretary said that there were many weaknesses in the procurement of medical supplies and these need to be addressed immediately.

“The process is also too complicated and there is a great deal of corruption in the sector,” said Dr. Aluthge.

There had been an attempt to expand the post graduate training opportunities for doctors with the 2023 budget, Dr. Aluthge said. “Postgraduate training is now available at the Colombo University. The budget proposes such programmes in Peradeniya, Ruhuna and Jaffna universities. This is a positive development as this will update the knowledge of doctors and develop their skills,” he said.

Dr. Aluthge said that the government was planning to establish another institution to determine the quality of degrees. A similar proposal was brought in when President Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister of the Yahapalanaya government, he said.

“A lot of people, including the GMOA opposed this because this would have an adverse effect on the work done by the University Grants Commission and the existing mechanisms that gauge the quality of university degrees. We are keeping a close tab on this proposal and will oppose this proposal if it affects the quality of degrees,” he said.

Dr. Aluthge said that the budget had proposed to establish the paying ward system in government hospitals. “This is a strange proposal given that some hospitals including the Colombo National Hospital, already have this,” he said.

“However, the proposal to establish paying wards at Base Hospitals is suspicious. This might be a step-in privatising healthcare and will affect healthcare provided to the poorest segments of the population,” he said.

The GMOA Secretary said that they had been highlighting the high prevalence of malnutrition. The government has allocated Rs. 500 million to address this problem. “We must now ensure that the money is used properly. We must identify those who are the most in need and ensure that there is no corruption here.”

Dr. Aluthge said that the government was attempting to increase the tax revenue and given the crisis faced by the country, this is a necessity. However, some of the proposals to boost tax income are arbitrary and counter-productive.

“This has caused anger and fear among many professionals. This might also lead to more professionals leaving the country. We have already called for amending what, we think, are unfair revisions to tax policy. We believe that taxes must be collected and funds raised therefrom spent in a transparent manner.

Dr. Aluthge said that over the years a number of positive proposals had been made in budgets, but they had not been implemented.

“There are some welcome proposals. There are some bad ones as well. We fear that while the worst proposals are implemented, the good ones will be ignored. We will work with all concerned parties to ensure that the quality of the health services is maintained and defeat any attempt to privatise healthcare.”