Sri Lanka Ministry of Health says that the people of Sri Lanka
have taken 820 million tablets of paracetamol in 2012. Of that, 570 million
tablets have been issued by the government hospitals. The Ministry says that it
is an increase of 250 million tablets compared to the previous year.
Ministry sources said the Minister of Health Maithripala
Sirisena has expressed amazement regarding the stunning figures. According to
Health Ministry statistics Sri Lankans use around 1.5 million paracetamol
tablets a day or around 47 million tablets monthly.
The Minister has instructed the officials to look into the
increasing consumption and to report him. He has further instructed to advise
the medical professionals to be wiser when prescribing medicine.
A Sri Lankan expert says self-prescribed drug usage and lack of
knowledge are the most common causes for life threatening drug overdose cases
in Sri Lanka.
Speaking at a lecture organized by the National Poisons
Information Centre, at the Auditorium of the Colombo National Hospital, Dr.
Priyadharshani Galappatti said that common drugs such as paracetamol
(acetaminophen), other pain killers and syrups are the most commonly used drugs
in relation to overdoses. She explained that most accidental drug overdose
cases have taken place when parents give too much paracetamol to children for
fever and due to wrong calculations of the drug dosages.
In the event a person suffers from a drug overdose or poisoning,
Dr. Galppaththi advises to take the victim to the nearest hospital within two
hours of the incident. She also requested the public to always get advice from
a doctor before taking any drug.
Ministry
of health states that new regulations will be introduced to all the Paracetamol
tablets in the market to be clad in white and to be round in shape.
Accordingly,
Chairman of the SPC Mr.Nishantha Benaragama said that these regulations will be
introduced within 2 weeks time. Mr.Benaragama justified this decision by saying
that there is a high risk of death by using the paracetamol in the wrong way.
He
said the Pharmaceutical companies have introduced the same tabled in different
colors and shapes and thus confusing the patients. He also said that maximum
amount of deaths caused by drug overdose has been occurred due to Paracetamol.
He
said that it could cause a high risk of liver damage.