A shocking audit reveals how donations meant for life-saving medicines were siphoned, shuffled, and misused under Keheliya’s watch, leaving hospitals short and citizens cheated of their right to health.
The curtain has been pulled back on yet another scandal from Keheliya’s era, this time tied to the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation. According to the National Audit Office, millions of rupees and dollars donated for essential medicines were diverted, mishandled, and in some cases left to rot in storage while hospitals pleaded for supplies. The result, auditors say, is an “incalculable loss” both financially and morally.
The report outlines that Sri Lanka Cricket had donated a staggering US$ 2.5 million to the National Health Development Fund of the Ministry of Health, which was routed through the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation for the purchase of critical IV Merapenum medicines. Yet, instead of going directly to patients, the funds were shuffled through the Medical Supply Unit, later repaid in convoluted transactions that blurred accountability.
The Foreign Employment Bureau also contributed Rs. 100 million during the period 2022–2023. This money was explicitly earmarked for forty-two essential medicines for cancer patients, but in a pattern auditors describe as deeply troubling, tenders were called for only fifteen medicines. The rest never materialized, leaving cancer patients and doctors scrambling for alternatives.
The misuse did not stop there. Seventeen other medicines were purchased under similar questionable arrangements, further entangling the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation and Medical Supply Unit in a cycle of dubious repayments and blurred procurement trails. Even more alarming is the finding that officials either deliberately or negligently facilitated the misuse of Rs. 943.83 million by “acting without understanding.” For over two years, critical medicines were left unused in storage facilities, some expiring, while hospitals reported dire shortages.
This negligence has triggered calls from the Medical and Civil Rights Commission of Doctors on Bribery and Corruption for a full-scale investigation. They argue the damage caused by the unnecessary retention and mishandling of medicines is beyond monetary calculation, measured instead in lives disrupted and treatment delayed.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, Chairman of the Commission, has called for immediate legal action against officials implicated in these transactions. He insists that the Ministry of Health, the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and the Medical Supply Unit must face responsibility for allowing donations meant to heal patients to become entangled in games of mismanagement and possible corruption.
The audit underscores a devastating reality: while foreign donors, sporting bodies, and employment agencies gave generously to support public health, the system squandered it. Patients who should have benefitted from vital medicines were left to suffer. Hospitals like Ridgeway Children’s and Castle Hospital received partial relief, but only after bureaucratic juggling of funds that never should have happened in the first place.
The scandal reflects a dangerous pattern where mismanagement thrives under the guise of procurement, and oversight is conveniently ignored. For Sri Lanka, already facing a fragile healthcare system under economic pressure, the exposure of this fiasco is not just an embarrassment but a betrayal of trust at the highest levels.
The audit now calls for accountability, transparency, and decisive legal action. Anything less, observers warn, will only prove that the “medicine game” is yet another dark chapter in a growing saga of corruption.
