A recent report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed serious financial mismanagement by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC), which misused donations totaling USD 2.5 million from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Rs 100 million from the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) by submitting false bills and duplicate invoices to the Medical Supplies Division (MSD) for cancer drug supplies.
The audit found that between 2022 and 2023, the donations were credited to the Health Ministry’s National Health Development Fund (NHDF) to procure essential medicines. However, the SPC repeatedly billed the MSD for the same drugs already purchased using these donations.
In one case, SLC’s donation intended for IV Meropenem (1g and 500mg) was misused when the MSD made duplicate payments to the SPC for supplies delivered to Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children and Castle Street Hospital for Women.
This pattern extended to 19 other cancer medicines, with the MSD making additional payments for ten of them despite having already been procured through the donated funds.
Similarly, SLFEB’s Rs 100 million contribution for 42 essential cancer drugs was mismanaged. The audit revealed that price quotations were obtained for only five of the 42 drugs, raising concerns over transparency and procurement procedures.
The NAO concluded that deliberate or negligent actions by SPC officials resulted in the misuse of Rs 943.83 million. The report also noted that large stocks of pharmaceuticals were unnecessarily held by the SPC for more than two years until the Government Audit Department uncovered the irregularities.
