Does Sri Lanka’s Drug and Laboratory Supply Related Regulatory Mechanism Address the Current Concerns at Tertiary Level Hospital Care?

Although medicinal products and drugs may have similar characteristics as any other commodity, consumers would need specific knowledge to make decisions with regard to their usage, benefits, harms and potential risks. Poor regulatory capacity could lead to monopolies, breach of market principles, market failure, trade ethics and large scale corruption. If unregulated, money spent for procuring and providing poor quality medicinal products, which are unsafe and ineffective may go down the drain.

 

However, institutional level Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has been given little importance in the current day practice specifically in Tertiary level hospitals. Due to lack of capacity at institutional level for evidence based decision making, tertiary level institutions may not be able to make right choices to produce desired clinical outcomes.

 

Therefore, regulatory needs of large institutions such as tertiary level care institutions and specialized hospitals need to be addressed with special emphasis on their uniqueness and specific needs. Country’s drug and medicines regulatory mechanism is paramount in fulfilling fundamental public health objectives.