Shortage of medicine for dialysis patients at the Kandy General Hospital

Colombo (News 1st): Revelations about the misuse of public funds by a group of individuals in an organized manner, for more than a decade comes to the limelight at a time the general public faces many issues. The following is a report about kidney patients, who struggle between life and death, due to the shortage of medical drugs. Dialysis is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally. 134 Patients from the Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala and Matale districts receives this treatment at the Kandy General Hospital. However, it has been reported that these patients have not received sufficient medical drugs for nearly one month. Director of the Kandy General Hospital, Dr Saman Ratnayaka said, due to the Medical Supplies Division in Colombo not issuing sufficient stocks of drugs, the hospital is compelled to purchase this medicine from external sources, citing the requirements of patients. The director added, the hospital is compelled to incur a cost of nearly Rs 1 million each time to purchase these drugs. Director of Kandy General Hospital Dr Saman Ratnayaka noted that he has informed the secretary to the ministry of health in this regard. He added that they can only issue sufficient amounts of drugs to patients if they receive sufficient stocks. Patients urge the relevant authorities to provide them with medicine sufficient for a period of at least a month.