By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The National Medicines Regulatory Authority will be probing some of the leading private hospitals in Colombo area in response to a series of public complaints that patients are being billed with exorbitant rates for medicines exceeding the government’s designated maximum retail prices (MRP).
The public’s outcry over the prices of medicines comes in against the backdrop where the Health Ministry declared a list of 60 essential and most commonly used medicines with their maximum retail prices slashed by 16 per cent with effect from June 15, 2023.
It is illegal if commonly used medicines are sold for prices beyond the MRP, and some of the commonly used medicines allegedly sold for exorbitant prices are paracetamol, amoxicillin, metformin, antibiotics and insulin, Daily Mirror reported quoting an official at the NMRA.
A similar probe was carried out in the South against a private hospital in Galle, and had discovered that it had violated the recent gazette declaration by the Health Ministry. The hospital in question is currently being processed for trial at Court.
