News
Prof. Vitarana calls for a public approach based on intensive health education to get rid of Covid-19
It will be cheaper and easier to implement
By Saman Indrajith
LSSP leader Prof. Tissa Vitarana, the country’s most senior virologist, participating in the third reading stage of the budget debate under the expenditure headings of the Ministry of Health, said that it was not necessary to wait for a successful vaccine to be made and used to control the Covid-19 virus. It would also be very expensive. A public health approach based on intensive health education, and the active participation of the community would be cheaper, easier to implement and more effective even to get rid of the virus altogether from the country.
“We must first understand that this is a new virus to the world. There are many other types of viruses in the world which can cause alarm and even lead to epidemics, but there is a social immunity that has arisen against them with time and they tend to be milder. But for Covid-19 there is no such immunity. There is insufficient understanding of its behavior. It is still being studied and new knowledge of the virus is being discovered every day.” Prof. Vitarana said.
“It is in such a context that our Government faced the challenge and I must praise the way in which the Government handled that challenge. In the first wave, our experts identified separate clusters that had their origins from foreign sources. Action had been taken to identify the threat and to mitigate the damage in a scientific manner, so that Sri Lanka came to be among one of the few top countries in the world which handled the virus threat without letting it evolve into a pandemic”, said the renowned Virologist who was the former Head of the Medical Research Institute’s Virology department, and also worked as a consultant virologist at the Edinburgh City Hospital.
“But the virus gradually evolved itself. A PCR test is being used to make the diagnosis. The PCR test to identify the infection has a 70% level of accuracy. But PCR tests done against other viruses have a level of accuracy of more than 90%. This means that further research needs to be done to improve the capabilities of the Covid-19 PCR tests. About 30% of positives are being missed. That is the reality with regard to PCR tests. Further about 80% of those infected by the virus show no illness but can infect other people. Therefore, these are not easy conditions to control the spread of infection”, he said.
The World Health Organization has expressed its willingness to give vaccines to 20% of our population free of charge. The WHO can access the institutional capacity to ensure the safety and potency of those vaccines. These vaccines should be used to save the lives of elders and those who have other chronic medical conditions, for example heart patients. However, the main purpose of giving vaccines to a population is to make a country immune to the disease. To effectively stop transmission of the virus, at least 80% of the population needs to be immunized. This is a new vaccine and it is not known how long the immunization would last. And research is still been done on how frequently the vaccine should be given to obtain optimum protection. Under these circumstances the development of a program to vaccinate the entire population is unreliable and would be very costly. So the duty of the Government is to increase public awareness of the importance of following the three main health rules – the wearing of masks when other people are present, maintaining a distance of at least one meter, but better two meters, between oneself and other people, and frequent hand washing using soap, specially after touching any surface which has been touched by other people, Prof. Vitarana, who completed his PhD in virology from the University of London in 1971, further said.
He noted that there is a severe shortage of medicines in the Government hospitals and the cost is very high in the open market.
“I would like to suggest to the Minister that the way out would be to implement the Senaka Bibile Medicinal drug policy. Tenders were called worldwide to meet the requirement not only of the public health care system but also the private sector. Thus, the tenders called supplied the total national requirement. The tenders were called by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation using generic names of the medicine so that they could be bought at the cheapest prices provided their quality was ensured by getting certificates of good manufacturing practice by the supplying pharmaceutical companies”, he said.
This enabled all the Government hospitals to provide all the required medicines for practically every illness free of charge. The medicines were made available to the private sector too at the lowest possible prices. That was the result of the implementation of the Senake Bibile policy”, Prof. Vitarana added.
The Parliamentary watchdog Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has found that there were fake documents regarding the importing of medicines under the emergency procurement system in 2022 and 2023.
This was revealed during a COPE meeting held at Parliament probing the transactions of the National Medicine Regulatory Authority (NMRA).
NMRA CEO Saveen Semage told the committee that several fake documents have been found due to the lack of registration of medicines.
Stating that six such fake documents were found last year alone, Semage said he had recorded statements regarding each of the documents with the Financial Crimes Investigation Division.
He revealed that, however, no investigations have been conducted yet into the incidents.
“We have documents with confessions from a woman accepting that fake documents had been made. However, a statement has not even been recorded from that woman yet,” he said.
Meanwhile, COPE member MP Asitha Niroshana Egoda Vithana also revealed that the highest number of waive-off registrations (WOR) for medicines had been obtained in 2022 and 2023.
He said 656 such WORs had been obtained in 2022 and 261 in 2023, adding that this proves that discrepancies have taken place during the emergency procurement of medicines during these periods.
Furthermore, Deputy Director General of the Medical Supplies Division of the Health Ministry, Dr. G. Wijesuriya said discussions are underway on allowing the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) to directly import essential medicines.He pointed out that it was essential to take a policy decision in this regard as a solution to mitigate such discrepancies.
The Batalanda Commission report was tabled in Parliament on Friday by the Leader of the House and Transport Minister, Bimal Ratnayake.
Minister Ratnayake announced that the government has decided to forward the report to the Attorney General for legal advice. Additionally, a Presidential Committee will be appointed to provide guidance and recommendations on how to proceed with the findings of the report.
Ratnayake said that the Cabinet of Ministers, along with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has made a policy decision to take necessary action in response to the report. He reassured the public that steps are being taken to ensure that such a dark chapter in the country’s history is never repeated.
Minister Ratnayake said that a two-day debate on the Batalanda Commission report will be scheduled in Parliament at an appropriate time, allowing for a detailed discussion on the report’s findings and recommendations.
The report, which will be printed in all three official languages—Sinhala, Tamil, and English—will be made available to the public in the near future. Ratnayake confirmed that printed copies would be provided to members of Parliament as well as the general public for their review.
The Leader of the House further revealed that there are 28 evidence volumes associated with the commission’s work, which will be submitted to Parliament at a later date for further scrutiny.
Ratnayake said that as entire country concerned of the Batalanda Commission’s findings, the government’s commitment to addressing the issues raised and preventing future atrocities stands clear. The next steps, including legal action and policy recommendations, will be shaped by expert advice and informed parliamentary discussions, he said.
Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe on Friday (14) emphasized the importance of promoting a sustainable and cost-effective construction industry in the country, highlighting key challenges and opportunities in the sector.
Speaking at ‘Construction Expo 2025’, Dr. Weerasinghe underscored the need for Sri Lanka to align with global trends in sustainable construction, integrating cost-effective energy solutions and eco-friendly building practices.
“I must say my views here are not necessarily as Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, but as a person looking at this construction industry and how this can be developed and what the issues are. Sustainability in construction is essential, not just for new projects but also for existing buildings,” he noted.
Dr. Weerasinghe acknowledged that the construction sector has been one of the hardest-hit industries due to multiple economic pressures in recent years including the decline in public investments, high material costs and the industry being dependent on government projects.
The CBSL Governor, who acknowledged that the government faced fiscal constraints, limiting infrastructure spending and delaying payments to contractors, said that however, the outstanding arrears had now been settled.
“Government did not have space to spend money for public investment, especially construction that had a significant impact on the industry in the last couple of years, plus the government inability to pay the arrears for a long period. That was an issue we all recognize that has been one of the adverse impacts the industry had in the past”, he expressed.
“Also the cost of materials went up significantly, partly because of foreign exchange shortages. As a result, the shortage had shot up the prices of construction materials, as well as depreciation of the currency, high interest rates, finance costs, and other factors. We all recognize that it had an adverse impact on the industry. It’s one of the worst affected industries because of all these factors.”
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