Sri Lanka’s most widely used oral contraceptive pill has become hard to find in both state and private pharmacies, and the substitutes that remain have more than doubled in price, the Daily Mirror reported on Saturday.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, President of the Federation of Doctors’ Trade Unions for Medical and Civil Rights, said Mithuri had become difficult to obtain across both sectors. What makes the shortage more serious, he said, is that alternative contraceptives are also not readily available.
Where substitutes can be found, the price of some has risen sharply — from around Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 6,000, putting them out of reach for many women.
A pricing dispute, not a supply failure
The Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka confirmed Mithuri is currently in short supply. It said fresh orders have been placed and stocks are expected in the country within a month, and attributed the shortage to a pricing issue involving the National Medicines Regulatory Authority.
Dr. Sanjeewa gave the same explanation from the other side of the counter: market sources had indicated that importing the medicine had become difficult because of existing price regulations on medicines.
That is the recurring shape of Sri Lanka’s medicine shortages — a capped retail price that importers say no longer covers their landed cost, followed by a quiet withdrawal from the market rather than a formal supply breakdown.
Mithuri is a combined oral contraceptive containing ethinyl estradiol (0.03mg) and levonorgestrel (0.15mg). It has been used in Sri Lanka for decades to prevent pregnancy and is also prescribed for certain menstrual and hormonal conditions — so the shortage reaches women who are not using it for contraception at all. It is registered and approved for use under NMRA regulations.
Dr. Sanjeewa called for immediate intervention by the Health Ministry and the NMRA to ensure women who depend on contraceptive medicines are not left without affordable alternatives.
Context
The shortage follows a run of drug-supply failures this year, including the airlifting of filgrastim after cancer patients went without and doctors’ warnings about a black market in cancer drugs. The same doctors’ unions have repeatedly identified NMRA pricing as the bottleneck.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror does not say when Mithuri went out of stock, how long the shortage has run, or how many women rely on it. It does not name the importer or the substitute brands whose prices rose, does not say whether free state-sector distribution through clinics is also affected, and carries no response from the Health Ministry or the NMRA. Neither the disputed price ceiling nor the price the importer is seeking is stated. No other verified newsroom had filed on the shortage at the time of writing.
