Sri Lanka’s specialist doctors demand urgent clarity from Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa over prescribing medicines unavailable in state hospitals, fearing legal backlash amid national drug shortages.
Amid mounting shortages of essential medicines and equipment in Sri Lanka’s public health system, the Specialist Doctors Association has issued a direct appeal to Minister of Health Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, demanding immediate clarity on whether prescribing unavailable drugs could land physicians in legal trouble.
The association, representing top-level consultants and specialists, expressed growing frustration over the lack of official guidance when patients request help sourcing vital medications and surgical items no longer available in state-run hospitals. In a formally worded letter, the doctors raised urgent legal and ethical concerns about continuing to prescribe, recommend, or even speak honestly about the non-availability of treatments without clear protection or policy from the Health Ministry.
With reports increasing of patients being left untreated due to inventory collapses in major hospitals, the doctors warn that silence could soon be interpreted as negligence, while transparency could risk accusations of malpractice or improper referral. As such, the letter outlines five critical questions requiring written directives from the Ministry to safeguard both patient rights and doctors’ reputations.
The full letter addressed to the Minister reads:
The letter has intensified public and professional pressure on the Ministry to stop deflecting blame and issue direct policy instructions. With state hospitals grappling with systemic collapses in drug procurement, equipment distribution, and inventory management, doctors say they cannot continue treating patients “blindfolded by legal uncertainty.”
Meanwhile, health rights advocates are calling the doctors’ letter a brave act of accountability. “When doctors are afraid to prescribe life-saving treatment, the system has failed catastrophically,” said a public health watchdog in Colombo.
If the Ministry remains silent, medical professionals fear an exodus of accountability, where clinicians retreat from emergency care out of fear of legal blowback, worsening Sri Lanka’s already overwhelmed healthcare system.
