Cancer patients being treated at Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama have written to the President, the Prime Minister, the Health Minister and health authorities warning that shortages of essential medicines are delaying their treatment and putting their lives at risk.
In the letter, reported by Daily Mirror, the patients said there is a serious shortage of Neupogen, a drug needed by patients undergoing chemotherapy. They said the shortage is preventing them from receiving chemotherapy on schedule and could allow their conditions to deteriorate.
A Neupogen injection bought privately costs more than Rs. 20,000, the patients said, and some of them require several doses. Many are already struggling to cover food, transport and other basic costs while undergoing treatment, making private purchase unaffordable.
The patients said other chemotherapy medicines are also unavailable at the hospital at times. When limited stocks do arrive, they said, the quantities are not enough for everyone, leaving some patients without the drugs their treatment requires.
They said the shortages are compounding the financial and emotional strain of cancer treatment amid rising living costs, and several raised concerns about their young children and families, saying their children’s futures depended on their survival.
“What we ask for is not merely sympathy, but the protection of our right to live,” the patients said in the letter.
They urged the authorities to act immediately to secure a continuous supply of essential cancer medicines at the hospital.
Apeksha Hospital, also known as the National Cancer Institute, is Sri Lanka’s principal cancer treatment facility. No response from the Ministry of Health or the hospital administration was included in the report, and none had been issued at the time of publication.
