The Ministry of Health says the equipment will be installed within the next two months.
Sri Lanka and Japan signed a grant agreement in March this year and under the agreement Japan will provide approximately Rs. 6 billion to improve the health facilities in Sri Lanka and a portion of the loan will be used to strengthen the drug production capacity of the SPMC. Under the grant modern machinery will be installed to locally manufacture drugs to alleviate the drug shortages in state hospitals.
The production capacity of the corporation has now reached a maximum level and the new equipment will enable to double the production, according to the Ministry. The pharmaceuticals manufacturing facility of the SPMC is currently equipped with Japanese and German equipment installed in 1987. The equipment, which has a lifetime of 24 years has become obsolete and the maintenance costs of have gone up mainly due to the cost of the spares.