The Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Development Programme to widen access to essential medicines and strengthen the national health supply chain, a copy of the MoU seen by Lakbima News shows.
Access to difficult to procure medicines
Under the agreement, the government will obtain medicines that are hard to source through the national procurement system using UNDP’s international procurement channels. This covers drugs with limited market access, few suppliers or small production runs, and aims to keep essential medicines available in public hospitals and clinics.
Details of the memorandum of understanding
The MoU was signed at the Ministry of Finance by Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa, Health Secretary Anil Jasinghe, UNDP resident representative Azusa Kubota and Finance Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma. The document sets out how Sri Lanka will use UNDP’s procurement networks for specified medicines and lists the roles and responsibilities of each party; Lakbima News has seen the signed pages.
How UNDP procurement will work
UNDP will source medicines from prequalified international suppliers. The National Medicines Regulatory Authority, NMRA, will perform quality checks and approve supplies before they enter the local system. The arrangement is meant to improve access to specialised drugs and rare treatments that the national system finds difficult to secure.
Benefits: competitive pricing and supply chain resilience
Global purchasing on a large scale through UNDP should bring more competitive prices and faster delivery for WHO-recommended medicines. The MoU aims to improve procurement and supply chain management and reduce stockouts across the public health system. If it works as planned, hospital pharmacies may place fewer emergency orders at odd hours, and pharmacy staff can avoid frantic midnight runs.
The MoU references UNDP’s existing international procurement systems and digital supply tools. The programme is meant to help keep quality essential medicines affordable and available, supporting Sri Lanka’s free healthcare system. Lakbima News
