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Govt. owned company to market drugs at slashed prices
LAcNet Special Correspondent in Colombo,
20:40 SLT, Thursday February 20, 2003.
A government owned company would market five commonly
used drugs at reduced prices, which are 35 to 85
percent less than its competitors from tomorrow.
STC Medical Ltd, a company operated by Commerce and
Consumer Affairs Ministry, will market drugs
Amoxycillin, Cefalexin, Erythromycan, metrormin and
Atnelol tablets.
The new products will be available through CWE outlets
and appointed agents.
Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday said the new
company would increase its marketing products to 25
pharmaceuticals shortly.
He said all new products would have a maximum retail
price preventing retailers quoting exorbitant prices.
"Consumers will be able to buy same old products at
lesser prices. We are importing same products from
India on a lesser price instead of Germany and
Britain. The benefit will be to the ultimate
consumer," the minister said.
The minister mentioned that the new company was not
competing with ‘Osu Sala’ run by the state
pharmaceutical corporation.
Prof. Lal Chandrasena, chief of the new company, said
they would pass the price difference to consumers
while promoting a parallel importing of
pharmaceuticals.
The company, which received cabinet approval last
year, comprises ten non-paid directors.
Published: Thu Feb 20 09:45:26 EST 2003
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ASK DR. SWAMY!
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Dr. Subramanian Swamy
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ANSWERS 1-24 NOW AVAILABLE
[HERE]
The Lanka Academic is delighted to announce its next guest in its
series of Q & A sessions: Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President,
Janata Party, India. We are indeed gratified by his appearence at The
Lanka Academic to answer questions from our readers.
We hope our readers would avail themselves of this opportunity to
educate themselves on the Indian perspective on the on-going peace
process and the other developments in all spheres of politics
with respect to India and Sri Lanka.
Submit your questions for Dr. Swamy and view his answers here. As usual, we will forward your questions to him
in batches and will post the answers as they arrive.
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UNICEF/NCPA promotes ethical reporting on child rights
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
SLT 7.40 a.m Friday 21 February.
UNICEF and National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) have joined together
to promote ethical reporting on child rights in Sri Lanka. At a special
meeting held in Colombo last night Prof. Harendra de Silva, Chairman of the
National Child Protection Authority made a presentation on ethical reporting
on issues relating to children in Sri Lanka. De Silva appealed to the Sri
Lankan media to take great caution when reporting on children and young
people. He requested the media to respect the dignity and the right of
every child and to pay special attention regarding their privacy to protect
them from harm and retribution. He pointed out how some families had to
leave their villages due to unethical reporting by the media and in some
cases where children had even committed suicide after their identity had
been revealed. Prof De Silva said " Do not further stigmatize any child,
avoid categorization or descriptions that expose a child to negative
reprisals, including additional physical or psychological harm or to life
long abuse, discrimination or rejection by their local community." In Sri
Lanka the campaign has received the support of the Ministry of Mass
Communication and number of media organizations. Journalists organizations
from 70 countries at the Worlds first international consultative conference
on journalism and child rights held in Brazil on May 2 1998 adopted
guidelines and Principles for Reporting on Issues involving Children.
Published: Thu Feb 20 20:45:46 EST 2003
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Police use water canons to disperse mega JVP march
LAcNet Special Correspondent in Colombo,
21:15 SLT, Thursday February 20,2003.
Police used water cannons coupled with some chemicals
to disperse a mega protest march by the socialist JVP
today against the year-old truce between the
government and the LTTE.
Nearly 50,000 people marched the streets in Colombo
joining the JVP protest opposing the ceasefire
agreement, which they claim would lead to
establishment of a separate state of Tamil Eelam.
Reports said the media personnel covering the event
were also attacked and some of their camera equipment
was damaged during police move to disperse the
protestors.
JVP Spokesman Wimal Weerawansa said they intend to
hold a joint opposition protest in Colombo shortly
where nearly a million people were expected to take
part.
Mr. Weerawansa said the agreement had not given a
single benefit to Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim
communities, but had strengthened the LTTE.
Referring to large sums of aid promised by the donors,
the JVP said they did not mind the country getting
funds as long as the sovereignty and the unitary
nature of the country is safeguarded.
He also said the UNF government was providing relief
only to their close allies, while the general public
is suffering from skyrocketing cost of living. The
government is also introducing laws preventing the new
recruits to the public service drawing pensions and
restricting labour benefits.
The JVP intends to build a broad peoples’ front defeat
the government through the protests.
Published: Thu Feb 20 10:17:22 EST 2003
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