National drugs policy

A National Pharmaceuticals Policy is one that aims at ensuring that people get good quality drugs at the lowest possible price, and that doctors prescribe the minimum of required drugs in order to treat the patient's illness. The pioneers in this field were Sri Lanka and Chile.

A rational drug policy is one based on drug use in which patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community. Pharmaceutical companies make considerable money by selling drugs under their trade names, promoting the branded drugs as against those named generically. Doctors often prescribe branded drugs which are more expensive than generic drugs which have the same efficacy.

In the 1960s and 1970s Chile attempted to introduce a rational policy, based on a limited number of essential drugs. The Chilean pharmaceutical policy failed due to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry. In the 1970s Sri Lanka demonstrated that a state buying agency linked to a national formulary was a viable and powerful instrument for reducing drug costs without compromising quality, for saving foreign exchange, for rationalising drug usage and for supplying essential drugs at reasonable prices to the whole community. This was made possible by the formulation and implementation of an integrated national pharmaceutical policy.

The Sri Lanka experience became a model for the rest of the world by Prof.Seneka Bibile

Under an integrated national pharmaceutical policy, the central buying agency channells all imports and production of pharmaceuticals, calling for worldwide bulk tenders which are limited to the approved drugs listed in the national formulary. The public and private health sectors must obtain all their requirements from the central buying agency.

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