When asked by Sri Lanka Mirror about media reports of a possible shortage of the drugs, he said the country had used just one drug, for which the only company that imported it, monopolized the price at Rs. 250,000.

The minister has taken steps to import a drug similar in quality from Russia at Rs. 90,000.

That company went to courts and obtained an injunction against the importation of the drug from Russia, which threatened to cause a shortage.

At the last hearing, the court suspended the order, thereby averting a situation, said Senaratne.

Also, the cancer drug monopoly is no more, he said.

Minister declined to name the company in question, but said that during the period his wife, Dr. Sujatha Senaratne, was the health ministry secretary, she had been able to keep the price down, but after she left the job, the company raised the price again.

However, SLM exposed the identity of the company in question in an article titled “Cancer drugs are costly due to Baur’s monopoly!”