Sri Lanka will buy every vaccine required for its national immunisation programme with government money in 2027 — the first time it has done so, Health and Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said.
The minister announced the move at an event at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo on 30 September, marking the 49th death anniversary of Professor Senaka Bibile and the 55th anniversary of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
The supply figures
Jayatissa said the share of medicines available in government hospitals has risen from around 50% to 96%. The SPC currently supplies 862 types of medicines, with roughly 5,800 surgical items also due to be supplied.
The government allocates Rs. 185 billion a year for medicines and surgical equipment, he said.
On procurement
The minister described three changes to how the ministry buys and pays:
- suppliers are being paid without delay where there are no technical or documentation problems
- administrative delays in procurement are being cut — he noted that the paperwork often takes longer than manufacturing the medicine itself
- emergency procurement cannot be eliminated entirely, but past misuse of the mechanism had made it harder to use
He called for the government, universities, medical professionals and the private sector to work together on a more efficient and transparent health system, and on strengthening local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
What the announcement does not say
Neither account states what share of Sri Lanka’s vaccine bill is currently met from government funds, nor who meets the rest. Without that, the size of the shift to 100% cannot be judged from the reporting — “for the first time” is the minister’s framing, and no baseline is given against it. No rupee figure is attached to the 2027 vaccine procurement.
The Rs. 185 billion annual allocation is also given without saying whether it already covers vaccines or sits alongside them.
The occasion
Professor Senaka Bibile founded Sri Lanka’s National Pharmaceutical Policy and was the SPC’s first chairman; his work on essential-medicines policy was later adopted internationally. The Daily Mirror reports that the minister and Bibile’s family laid floral tributes, that the annual memorial lecture was delivered by Professor Senaka Pilapitiya, and that memorial scholarships went to 11 medical students from universities around the country.
Sri Lanka’s immunisation programme, credited with eliminating polio, neonatal tetanus and rubella, dates to 1978.
