Baby Formula Maker Says Shipping Millions of Cans From Another Country

BUSINESS

Zachary Stieber 

May 14, 2022

The Abbott manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Mich., on May 13, 2022. 

(Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Abbott Laboratories has flown millions of baby formula cans to the United States to help deal with shortages, the company said on May 13.

“We know that the recall has worsened the industry-wide infant formula shortage, and we have been working to get as much product into the hands of parents as we can,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Millions of cans of infant formula powder have already been flown from Abbott’s facility in Cootehill, Ireland, according to the company.

That facility is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Few baby formula containers sold in the United States are from overseas, but the Biden administration announced this week that part of its plan to increase supply is to ease restrictions on imports, though it declined to share details.

Abbott is also ramping up production of liquid formula at its plant in Columbus, Ohio, and is paying rebates for people that obtain competitors’ products through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children in areas where Abbott holds the program contracts and its Similac formula is not available.

Abbott recalled some Similac products in February after an FDA investigation found unsanitary conditions at its Sturgis, Michigan plant, prompting the shutdown of the facility.

The plant is still not up and running, though Abbott says it can be within two weeks once the FDA grants clearance. The formula produced once the plant is back online won’t be available in stores for another six to eight weeks.

In a statement to news outlets, the FDA said that the plant “remains closed as the company works to correct findings related to the processes, procedures, and conditions that the FDA observed during its inspection.”

The regulator said earlier in the week that it was not objecting to Abbott releasing formula from the Sturgis plant to people on a case-by-case basis because of nationwide shortages, which stem from the recall and the missing production from the facility.

According to Datasembly, the United States out-of-stock rate for the week ending May 8 was 43 percent.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ended its probe of Abbott’s formula, which was suspected of being linked to cases of Cronobacter infections.

The Biden administration has also taken other steps to try to combat the shortages, such as cutting red tape to make it easier to import formula from overseas already approved by the FDA and offering support to manufacturers like Reckitt for increased production and quicker distribution.

Some lawmakers have criticized the administration for not acting faster, given that issues about the Michigan plant were first raised in 2021. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and others have called for Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel producers to increase production, but the administration has not as of yet.

“That would be something which is on the table,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington on Friday. “We’ve not made a decision about [it], but [it] would help address issues over the long term.”

From The Epoch Times

MASS MURDER INDIAN STYLE

Building fire kills 27 in New Delhi, police arrest company owners

2022/5/15
© Reuters


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police in New Delhi arrested two people suspected of flouting fire safety regulations on Saturday after at least 27 people died in a blaze at a building housing a manufacturing unit for surveillance cameras.

Rescue teams worked overnight to clear the burnt out four-storey building near a railway station in the western suburbs.

More than 75 people were in the building when the fire broke out on Friday evening. Some jumped from windows to save themselves, according to eyewitnesses, and firefighters broke the glass and rescued people with ropes.

Authorities said fire started in an office on the first floor and spread rapidly. Two owners of the company were arrested as part of probe to identify suspected safety violations.

Offering condolences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised 200,000 rupees ($2,580) in compensation for the victims' next-of-kin.

(Reporting by Anushree Fadnavis; Writing by Nupur Anand; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

BREAD RIOTS LEAD TO REVOLUTION
Iran media report 1 killed in unrest over food price hikes

AP , Saturday 14 May 2022

An Iranian lawmaker says one person was killed in his city during recent unrest over price increases in the southwestern Khuzestan province, semi-official ILNA news agency reported Saturday.

A customer buys bread in a bakery in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, May 11, 2022. AP

Ahmad Avaei, a member of parliament from Dezful did not give the name or gender of the person killed, or say how many people were arrested during the unrest.

State media reported Friday that Iranian authorities had arrested at least 22 demonstrators who had been protesting sudden price hikes of subsidized staple foods, 15 of them in Dezful. A firefighter was injured in clashes with demonstrators in a nearby city, Andimeshk.

The unrests follow Iran's announcement earlier in the week that the cost of cooking oil, chicken, eggs and milk would rise by as much as 300%, as food prices surge across the Middle East due to global supply chain snarls and Russia's invasion of major food exporter Ukraine.

State TV on Friday showed footage of demonstrations in the province that had deteriorated into violence, with protesters burning tires and leaving mosques and public property damaged.

Iranian lawmaker says one killed during protest against rising prices

A file photo shows Iranians walk past the branch of a local bank that was damaged during demonstrations against petrol price hikes, on November 20, 2019 in Shahriar, west of Tehran. 

(AFP)

Tehran
AFP
Published: 14 May ,2022:

One person was killed during a protest in southwestern Iran against a government decision to raise the costs of basic goods, an MP told Iranian media Saturday.

The authorities had announced Monday a series of measures to tackle mounting economic challenges, such as changing a subsidy system and raising the prices of staple goods including cooking oil and dairy products.

Hundreds took to the streets in a number of Iranian cities to protest the government’s decision, including in Tehran province, state news agency IRNA reported.

Iran has been reeling under the effect of sanctions reimposed by the US in 2018 - exacerbated by rising prices worldwide since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

“A resident of Andimeshk was killed during the recent rallies in Dezful in Khuzestan province,” local MP Ahmed Avai told the Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA).

The victim was not identified, nor were the circumstances of the death disclosed.

IRNA had reported Friday that more than 20 people were arrested during the demonstrations in Dezful and Yasuj further east, but made no mention of any casualties.

In the town of Izeh, also in Khuzestan, a number of people reportedly attacked shops and set fire to a mosque.

The imam of Izeh denounced the “insult against Islam, the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed,” IRNA said.

On Saturday, Izeh MP Abdollah Izadpanah told ILNA that three youths were arrested for “throwing stones at a mosque.”

Following the announcement of the new economic measures, people rushed to supermarkets to stock up on goods before the price rises came into effect on Friday, according to social media images broadcast on state television.

Iran has seen several waves of protests over living conditions in recent years, most notably in 2019 after a fuel price hike.

In recent months, teachers have hold successive demonstrations demanding the speeding up of reforms that would see their salaries better reflect their experience and performance.

Read more:

Protests triggered by price hikes spread in Iran

Iran arrests at least 22 protesting sudden price hikes in foods

REMEMBER CULLODEN

Scots march for independence in Glasgow

Thousands march through Glasgow's streets, demanding independence 2nd referendum after failed 2014 bid

Ahmet Gurhan Kartal |14.05.2022


GLASGOW, Scotland

Thousands of pro-independence Scots marched in Glasgow on Saturday, demanding a second referendum on separation from the UK.

Organized by the All Under Same Banner group, which promotes a second vote on independence dubbed indyref2, the march started at the Kelvingrove Park.

Demonstrators shouted their demand of independence through Glasgow's streets, with the procession ending in central George Square.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party (SNP) came out strong from the May 5 local elections, promised a second vote by the end of 2023.

The SNP remained the biggest party in Scotland, but Scottish Conservatives lost their second place to Labour after losing major ground in the elections.

It won a total of 454 council seats, consolidating their position, while the Scottish Conservatives lost 62 for a result of 215.

The first referendum that asked Scottish voters whether they would want to break from the UK was held in 2014, a mere two years before the historic EU referendum.

The government under then-Prime Minister David Cameron pledged better understanding for Scots from Westminster and "extensive new powers" for the Scottish Parliament.

Leading the independence campaign at the time, the SNP had full confidence that the country would survive and be better off outside the UK, strengthened by the nation's North Sea oil fields, world-famous malt whiskey, textiles, jet engines, and various banking and financial services.

Scots still rejected separation, as just over 2 million votes (55.3%) were cast to remain part of the kingdom, while 1.62 million (44.7%) people voted for independence.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Scottish Tories have repeatedly rejected the idea of indyref2, calling the 2014 referendum a "once in a lifetime" event that proved Scots prefer the union.

Beginning Of Closeness in China-Afghan Relations – OpEd

 May 15, 2022  

By Dr. Rajkumar Singh

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan followed the disintegration of Earlier USSR in early 1990s and on account of its internal dissension, conflict and rivalry China remained in inactive position for a long time. On the other hand, Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan witnessed large-scale chaos, anarchy and instability in the country and Taliban, a terror militia group, taking benefit of the prevailing situation captured the power of the state in the year 1996 which lasted till 2001, but was overthrown by US forces when they began search for world-famous terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The new interim government was formed under the presidentship of Hamid Karzai which opened a new chapter in Afghan-China relations and reestablished a strong bond of closeness as well understanding between them. As a gesture of goodwill, in December 2001 China sent a working team of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which attended the Afghan Interim Administration’s foundation ceremony and also dispatched a message of congratulations to the newly appointed president. In the period, with deepening of relations China explored its possibility of increasing businesses and kept itself aloof from politics aa well as security problems of the country. In nutshell, Beijing focused only on commercial purposes and refrained from involving in US-sponsored anti-terror campaign initiated in post-9/11 phase, political reconciliation and economic reconstruction, as it did not want to perform as a subordinate partner in any way of the Western coalition.

However, over the years, the considerations in Kabul changed with Taliban becoming more and more powerful and capturing one territory after another. The Western powers, under the lead role of the United States also felt the futility of continuing the war against the prevailing terror groups. As a result, a consensus emerged among the powers concerned to establish peace in Afghanistan through non-military means and it finally materialised in February 2020 when US agreed on withdrawing from Afghanistan.           

Security motivations of China

Although, Afghanistan remained unstable for last three decades, Beijing began taking interest in Kabul’s affairs since the emergence and expansion of Taliban, a potential terror militia, at the close of the century or roughly from 2001 when the first government of Taliban collapsed due to waging of a decisive war against the terror groups, particularly, Al-Qaeda and its chief Osama bin Laden.

As China is in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan and share about 76- kilometres of border, the developments in Kabul directly posed threat to China province Xinjiang where Uighur Muslim-dominated population reside. China too, for long has been suffering from the terror activities of Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang province and meanwhile, a good number of Uighur Muslims have taken shelter in Pakistan’s Federally administered Area (FATA), and the southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

According to an estimate, about eight thousand Uighur Muslim terrorists are living in Afghanistan preparing for terror war against the Beijing. In addition, the terror groups having originated from Xinjiang province and living in Afghanistan have transnational connections with Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), Turkestan Islamic Party TIP). They all want and active enough to establish an Islamic State of East Turkestan in Xinjiang.

Thus, the entire Chinese activities in Afghanistan revolves around its domestic security perceptions and therefore, it has ignored the works of political reconciliation and other reconstruction in the country. In the context, Beijing was ready to train Afghan soldiers on Chinese soil to forfeit the purpose of (ISIS), Al-Qaeda and a host of other terror outfits who wish to infiltrate into Xinjiang province of China through the northeastern border of Afghanistan and get fulfilled their dreams.

Economic interests of China in Afghanistan

In Chinese considerations national security apart, there are two main economic/commercial factors that attracted Beijing most to come close to Afghanistan- a. China’s own trade interests, and b. Afghanistan being a hub of natural resources.

In comparison to the other countries of the region, location of Afghanistan is significant as it opens the commercial as well as vast trade routes and avenues to South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, and China. Beijing, being the largest exporter of the region, which has developed most in recent decades and years, naturally, requires immense world markets and sales agents for its economic prosperity and power in the comity of nations.

Its latest trade controversy with the United States of America initiated with assumption of Donald Trump as the President of US (and continued under the Biden administration) has made it difficult for China to trade in Western nations in general, particularly with those the US retains good relations and understanding. The second lucrative cause for Beijing’s temptation in Afghanistan is its natural resources which include from being rare earth elements to copper deposits, iron ore, gold, lithium and more.

Keeping in view the said objectives Beijing has also expanded in Afghanistan under its policy of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a dream of global growth project initiated in 2013 and running in over hundred countries of the world to help/develop undeveloped and undeveloped countries. After three years of its launching, China and Afghanistan, in 2016, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in which they both expressed their joint commitment to promote co-operation under the BRI projects, which will also, in future, integrate Kabul in intercontinental infrastructure and boost its economy. As a result of decades of understanding between the two, especially since 2001, China emerged as a significant trading partner of Afghanistan and it reached 544 US dollar in 2017 and in the year, they also signed a custom-free trade agreement which opened a bright chapter in their economic relations.

Forward movement of China in Afghanistan

Keeping in view the larger interest, the People’s Republic of China, moved gradually to take a bigger role in the internal affairs of Afghanistan and started initiating peacekeeping efforts with the help of Pakistan and Afghanistan through shuttle diplomacy, in addition to joining a regional pool, Quadrilateral Coordination Group since 2015. It also viewed correctly, weakening position of Afghan government in the country and establish a good rapport with Taliban in past recent years to ease its relations with Afghan government and the people as well.

In August 2021 when US withdrew finally and completely, Taliban captured political power in the country and in following days formed a government to rule over the nation. In return of Chinese help and assistance, the ruling Taliban has called China a close friend and assured Beijing to curb militant support given from Afghani soil. At present, it appears a good regional combination of China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and likely to continue in days to come unless something happens unexpectedly.

Dr. Rajkumar Singh

Dr. Rajkumar Singh is a University Professor for the last 20 years and presently Head of the P.G. Department of Political Science, B.N. Mandal University, West Campus, P.G. Centre,Saharsa (Bihar), India. In addition to 17 books published so far there are over 250 articles to his credit out of which above 100 are from 30 foreign countries. His recent published books include Transformation of modern Pak Society-Foundation, Militarisation, Islamisation and Terrorism (Germany, 2017),and New Surroundings of Pak Nuclear Bomb (Mauritius, 2018). He is an authority on Indian Politics and its relations with foreign countries.

PRIVATIZATION OF WAR

UKRAINE
Mozart Group: The counter to Russia's infamous Wagner Group mercenaries


A former US Special Forces commander has set up the Mozart Group, aiming to pass on his, and other veteran's, frontline experience.

Simon Newton

April 2022 

A former US Special Forces commander has set up a military training centre in Ukraine aimed at passing on his, and other veteran's, frontline experience.

The ex-US commander Colonel Andrew Milburn was the first US Marine to lead a Special Operations Task Force during the war against the so-called Islamic State and is now set on training Ukraine's Special Forces in the military skills they lack.

Colonel Milburn's called his organisation the Mozart Group – a counter to Russia's infamous mercenary firm The Wagner Group.

Funded by donations those joining are paid an undisclosed fee for their expertise.

Colonel Milburn says he has already hired several British Army veterans and the scale and type of warfare happening in Ukraine is different to anything even he has seen.

An estimated 5,000 foreign volunteers have reportedly headed for the Ukrainian war zone to join a loosely organised Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

The ex-US commander says many that have lied about their military experience are now paying the price and emphasised the need for an assessment screening.

He says he was drawn to Ukraine by a desire to do something and even with the reported Russian troop withdrawal from Kyiv, he believes it is only a temporary pause as they consolidate forces in the east.

"The Russians are best in the defence. Yes, they've been inept in the offence but they use reams of mines and they've got no shortage of artillery shells.

"The barrages that they can bring down very quickly have to be seen to be believed."

Three Dead and One Wounded in New Massacre in Colombia



The climate of violence, with massacres and selective assassinations of former combatants and peace signatories has not stopped in Colombia. May. 14, 2022. 

| Photo: @MV_Eng

Published 14 May 2022 
by teleSUR

According to human rights NGOs, it is the 39th massacre so far this year in the midst of an atmosphere of pre-electoral violence that continues unabated.

At least three young people were killed on Friday night in the municipality of Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, and a 16 year-old minor was wounded. Local police sources confirmed a new episode of armed violence in the South American country.

RELATED:
Colombia: 2022 Is Most Violent Pre-electoral Period on Record

According to local media, the police version reports that the victims were hanging out in the park of one of the city's neighborhoods when armed men attacked them at night. The deceased were 18, 19 and 25 years of age.

Also, a 16 year-old minor was wounded in the shooting, who underwent surgery and is in a reserved prognosis.

Although the authorities are investigating whether the multiple homicide was the result of retaliation, the Institute for Development and Peace (Indepaz) recalls that there was already an Early Warning (EW) for the area.

In particular, Indepaz refers that the Ombudsman's Office had issued a TA, number 19/2021, which included the municipalities of El Cerrito, Buga and Palmira and pointed out the deficiencies of the state response in terms of security, especially in comprehensive prevention actions.

The previous March, another massacre took place in a rural area of the same municipality. In this event, three people were killed in a house in the Chambimbal district. A year earlier, in January 2021, the massacre of five young people in a farm caused commotion in Buga and the rest of Valle.

The main hypotheses so far are, the settling of scores and disputes over territorial control due to drug trafficking. However, Indepaz points out that the economy of municipalities like Buga, in which both legal and illegal actors take part, helps to understand, in part, how the armed conflict and criminality have fed the functioning of this economy.

In view of what would be the 39th massacre so far this year, Indepaz recalls that the so-called Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), local drug trafficking structures and the Third Division of the Colombian Army, among other armed groups, are active in the area.

The climate of violence, with massacres and selective assassinations of former combatants and peace signatories has not stopped in Colombia, two weeks before the first round of the presidential elections.

Christian village digs into Crusader past

The residents of Mi'ilya long wondered what archaeological treasures lay beneath a crumbling castle. Now, some are excavating their homes to find out


PUBLISHED : 15 MAY 2022 
NEWSPAPER SECTION: SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT
WRITER: PATRICK  KINGSLEY

Ruins in Mi'ilya, Israel on April 3. photos:  AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

In the middle of Eilia Arraf's home -- between two living rooms, a cactus garden and a makeshift gym -- there are two large pits, each containing the ruins of a church that archaeologists believe was built about 1,600 years ago.

Mr Arraf found large sections of the church's mosaic floors under his house in 2020, as he tried to convert his aunt's bedroom and an olive oil storeroom into a new kitchen. The kitchen project was quickly abandoned. Instead, Mr Arraf turned the central part of his house into an archaeological dig -- and later, a minor tourist attraction.

above A view of Mi'ilya, Israel. AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"We did lose part of our house," said Mr Arraf, 69, an electrical engineer. "But what we have underneath us is something that money can't buy."

In practically any other village in Israel, Mr Arraf's decision to dig up his home would have been unheard of. But in Mi'ilya, a hilltop village of some 3,200 people, mostly Arab Christians, in northern Israel, he is part of an eccentric trend of privately funded archaeological excavations.

Since 2017, four families have begun the process of excavating 10 private homes, searching for Crusader and Byzantine ruins. Hundreds more families in Mi'ilya have funded a village-wide project to restore part of its crumbling Crusader castle.

In the process, the villagers have discovered the largest-known winery from the Crusader era, a Crusader town wall, a Roman cistern and Iron Age cooking equipment -- as well as the Byzantine church underneath Mr Arraf's home.

Eilia Arraf in the nave of a Byzantine church found under his home. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"It was a domino effect," said Rabei Khamisy, an archaeologist from the village who is the driving force behind the project. "In Mi'ilya, excavation became something like a tradition."

For years, the villagers had known they were living atop and among an array of archaeological treasures, but they had never got around to digging up much of it. Parts of the present-day village date from the 12th century, when Frankish Crusaders built a castle there, probably during the rule of Baldwin III, a Christian king of Jerusalem.

Today, Mi'ilya remains one of a handful of Christian-majority villages in Israel. Most of its residents are Greek Catholics whose ancestors began to settle here during Ottoman rule in the mid-18th century.

Many live in homes built among the ruins of the Crusader castle, which became the backdrop to the lives of generations of villagers. But it was never properly excavated or restored.

"The council always said, 'We'll do the castle; we'll work on the castle,'" said Mr Khamisy, who grew up in the castle's shadow. "But nothing ever happened."

The turning point came in early 2017 when part of the castle wall began to collapse, endangering passersby.

A specialist in Crusader-era archaeology, Mr Khamisy, 45, had only recently started a new research post at a nearby university and had little time for a new project. But he realised it was now or never to preserve the fortress, and felt it was a matter of hometown honour.

Rabei Khamisy, an archaeologist from Mi'ilya, Israel, who is the driving force behind the local excavations. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"I'm going to restore the castle," he remembered thinking. "If I don't do it, I will leave the village. I can't live here."

So began the first of several restoration and excavation projects in Mi'ilya.

Mr Khamisy encouraged the village council to call a meeting, at which he asked families to each donate the equivalent of the cost of two cigarette packets. The villagers answered the call, giving roughly US$60,000, (2 million baht) and the council pitched in $30,000.

The Israel Antiquities Authority quickly supplied the relevant permits.

Several weeks later, the most dangerous stretch of the wall had been shored up.

Historically, residents of villages like Mi'ilya had been wary of notifying the antiquities authority if they found any hidden relics, which, though often kept in the custody of the homeowner, legally become state property. Residents feared that the government might take over their property or demand time-consuming excavations if a particularly noteworthy ruin was discovered.

For Palestinian citizens of Israel, as some Mi'ilya residents define themselves, the fear was particularly sharp, several villagers said, because the government had requisitioned Arab-owned land across Israel in the decades after the founding of the state.

But the wall restoration project gave the villagers greater trust in the authorities -- not least because Mr Khamisy was the main intermediary between the village and the government.

"He's a son of the village," said Salma Assaf, a former accountant who owns several properties in and around the castle ruins. "He broke the wall between us and the antiquities authorities."

Soon, the village clergy allowed the excavation of the village church, where Mr Khamisy said Iron Age pottery was dug up.

But the most dramatic discovery was lurking underneath Ms Assaf's own property next door.

Ms Assaf was in the middle of turning her family's Ottoman-era house into a restaurant. As the builders worked in its cellar, they discovered an ancient stone structure.

Galvanised by Mr Khamisy's recent project, Ms Assaf invited him over to examine it. The archaeologist quickly realised it was a previously unknown section of the Crusader town -- perhaps part of a medieval wine press.

left The northern wall of a Crusader castle in Mi'ilya. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

Excited, Mr Khamisy called the antiquities authority, asking for permission to dig deeper. A permit was granted unusually quickly, within days.

Armed with trowels, shovels and pickaxes, Mr Khamisy and the Assaf family set about excavating the cellar themselves.

After digging for two weeks, Mr Khamisy suddenly started shouting and jumping. About two yards under the floor, he had found the first signs of a Crusader-era drainage system.

Ms Assaf's building, experts later concluded, was standing above the largest-known wine press in the Crusader era -- a revelation that drew the attention of a major Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.

"It was the most wonderful time of my life," Ms Assaf remembered.

Energized by the discovery, Ms Assaf began buying up other properties around the castle, excavating them with Mr Khamisy's help, and then restoring them. They uncovered a Crusader waterworks and a Roman-era cistern that the Crusaders appeared to have used as their own; neither were seismic discoveries, but they helped archaeologists deepen their understanding of Crusader life in the 12th century, when European Christians consolidated their efforts to colonise the region by force.

The glass floor in Salma Assaf's restaurant in Mi'ilya, Israel, under which lies a Crusader-era wine press. 

AMIT ELKAYAM/nyt

"The finds themselves are important for a Crusader historian, or an archaeologist like myself," said Adrian Boas, a professor of medieval archaeology at the University of Haifa. "They're adding information to what we know about the Crusader period."

But perhaps more significantly, they have helped make villagers more "aware of the importance of the past and their connection to the place they live in," Prof Boas said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Pharmaceutical industry hit hard by Sri Lanka’s economic crisis

Sri Lanka's economic crisis is causing a shortage of medicine in the country.

Akshaya Nath 

Colombo

May 15, 2022

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is affecting the pharmaceutical industry and the country is facing a shortage of essential medicines. Local pharmacies have run out of medicine with patients leaving empty-handed.

A doctor at the Sri Lanka medical association, Ishan, said, “All kinds of medicines - general medicines and those that are specific to a certain health condition - are in shortage due to the economic crisis. A list is continually circulated by the authorised organisations to give a picture of the missing medicines and also to seek assistance for others.”

A local pharmacist said, “Many over-the-counter medicines like paracetamol and antibiotics are not available. Heart medicines and anaesthetic medicines are unavailable because of which surgeries have been temporarily stopped in many places.” Another pharmacist added, “The economic crisis has also led to the increase in prices of medicines. We have observed people travelling long distances to get medicine. Sometimes, they don’t buy the medicine they need because of the price. It is a terrible situation.”

ALSO WATCH | Sri Lanka on the boil: Who is accountable?

Last week, a two-year-old child fell sick and the family could not arrange medicine for her. Her mother said they had to travel very far just for general medicine.

According to Dr Ishan, the next step forward is for other countries to provide help. He said, “India has given a helping hand and we are thankful for it. But we will need more assistance when it comes to medicine.”

Since January, the Indian government has given US $ 3.5 billion in aid to the island nation. Earlier, external affairs minister S Jaishankar had also said that India will also assist Sri Lanka with its medicine shortage problem.

Why Sri Lanka’s new PM isn’t the change the country needs

Opposition see incremental change as putting “old wine in a new bottle.”

By Ellen Ioanes May 14, 2022

United National Party (UNP) leader and the new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (L) greets President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) after the swearing in ceremony. Wickremesinghe fills the role for a sixth time. 

Sri Lanka President Media Division / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Sri Lanka’s president has appointed a new prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, a familiar face in the role, as the country’s economic crisis balloons into a full-blown political disaster and violent conflagration between security forces, supporters of the current president, and protesters demanding radical political and economic change.

Wickremesinghe returns to office after five previous stints as the country’s prime minister; he’s replacing former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who, along with his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, have overseen the country’s economic collapse. Mahinda resigned last week amid increasingly violent protests, during which nine people were killed and more than three hundred injured, according to Reuters.

As Vox’s Natasha Ishak explained in April, Sri Lanka’s economy is in shambles largely due to the country’s default on about $50 billion worth of foreign loans, for the first time in its history as an independent nation. The past three years have seen successive hits to Sri Lanka’s foreign tourism sector — a series of church bombings in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — which previously brought in about $4.4 billion annually and was a leading economic driver. Those crises, exacerbated by the Rajapaksa’s financial mismanagement, have led to a critical lack of goods including milk, fuel, food, and medicine, and extended power power cuts — leading, in turn, to widespread protests and spiraling into political chaos.

The Rajapaksas are a political dynasty in Sri Lanka, and their reach in the government has been significant; in addition to Mahinda and Gotabaya, their brother served until April 4 as the finance minister. Gotabaya, the president, fired his younger brother, Basil, and replaced other cabinet officials at the time, but protesters and politicians alike weren’t impressed; Udaya Gammanpila, head of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya party, wrote on Twitter that the switch-up was reminiscent of “old wine in a new bottle,” according to Reuters.

Of course, Sri Lanka’s economic problems didn’t start with the current Rajapaksa government, as the International Crisis Group’s Alan Keenan explained in an April piece:

“Sri Lanka’s economic disaster has deep roots: the country has long lived beyond its means — borrowing too much and taxing too little — and produced below its potential. But the Rajapaksa administration’s gross negligence on economic matters since it came to power in November 2019 has significantly aggravated the island’s chronic problems.”

However, the dynasty has been a big part of the problem since Mahinda was first elected president in 2005, as a 2018 piece from the New York Times describes. Over the past decade, the country took out a number of loans, including about $5 billion from China. Through its so-called Belt and Road initiative, China has invested in a number of infrastructure projects in more than 100 countries around the world; ostensibly, such projects would both create jobs and in Sri Lanka’s case, provide a port on a bustling trade route. However, as Ishak pointed out in her piece, the Hambantota port project was eventually turned over to China as collateral when the Sri Lankan government was unable to pay back or renegotiate the loans — or successfully complete the project, due, at least in part, to rampant corrup

Gotabaya was elected president in 2019, and the Rajapaksa dynasty was again in charge; that meant more ambitious infrastructure projects, despite increasing foreign debt and dwindling foreign currency reserves to import essential goods, due to the lack of foreign income from tourism and other sectors. Gotabaya also slashed taxes when he came to power, inhibiting the government’s ability to purchase foreign currency reserves. On top of it all, a 2021 ban on imported chemical fertilizers, which was intended to save those foreign currency reserves decimated the agricultural sector.

What has resulted, Keenan writes, is “Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in nearly 75 years of independence.” The protests, he wrote in April, “have now morphed into a nationwide uprising,” despite the Rajapaksa government’s “reputation for political repression.” Protesters even forced Mahinda to flee his estate, Temple Trees, and tender his resignation on Monday after they attempted to breach the compound.

Who is Ranil Wickremesinghe?

After halfhearted attempts to form a new government in April and amid increasing threats to his rule, Gotabaya appointed Wickremesinghe to take over his brother’s office; he was sworn in on Thursday and first served as prime minister in 1993, under President DB Wijetunga.

Wickremesinghe is the product of families long active in civil service and the political class, stretching back even before independence, as Al Jazeera reports. Trained as a lawyer, Wickremesinghe is now the head of Sri Lanka’s United National Party, and has held several government posts, including deputy foreign minister and minister of industries. In that post, Wickremesinghe brought in foreign investors — perhaps a crucial selling point for his present appointment, as his relationships with India and Western countries could help in negotiating Sri Lanka out of its current economic turmoil.

However, as the BBC points out, Wickremesinghe has never served a complete term as prime minister, and is perceived as being quite close to the Rajapaksa clan despite being in the opposition party — even, some critics say, protecting them when they lost power in 2015. Furthermore, Wickremesinghe was in office during the 2019 Easter bombings — and claimed he was “out of the loop” in regards to warnings about the attacks, which killed at least 250.

How can Sri Lanka get out of this crisis?

In the face of compounded economic crises, violent protests, and entrenched government corruption, the future of the Sri Lankan government is murky at best. As of right now, protesters are demanding that the remaining Rajapaksa family members — including Gotabaya, the president, whose office entrance protesters have been occupying for the past month — be removed from government. Many also see Wickremesinghe’s appointment as a slap in the face and emblematic of Gotabaya’s longstanding refusal to admit to his government’s role in the crisis.

According to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, a think tank based in Colombo, Wickremesinghe has a massive task ahead of him if he is to steer the country out of its present crisis.

“Mr. Wickremesinghe has to focus on both the political and economic dimensions of our crisis of governance,” he told Vox via email. “Neglect of the political dimensions will undermine the economic.”

Chief among the issues that Wickremesinghe needs to address is securing assistance from the International Monetary Fund to purchase basic goods, Saravanamuttu said. The IMF can issue Rapid Financing Instruments, or RFI, to countries in need of immediate assistance due to natural disaster or other forces outside of its control, but Sri Lanka’s circumstances don’t fall under the typical remit of an RFI. Finance Minister Ali Sabry, who replaced Basil Rajapaksa, formally requested assistance from the IMF in April, and has been working with the IMF to attempt to broker some sort of agreement; however, as he said in an address to Parliament earlier in May, any agreement will be based on the restructuring of the nation’s debt and would take six months to put in motion.

But the economic and political crises are so deeply intertwined that, Saravanamuttu said, solving one wouldn’t ease the other; both issues have to be addressed for Sri Lanka to recover. “[Wickremesinghe] has to ensure that we get the bridging finance and the agreement with the IMF as well as clip the powers of the executive presidency and set a date for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and for the office of the executive presidency to be abolished,” he said. Wickremesinghe is, according to the Associated Press, meeting with diplomats from Japan, the US, the European Union, Germany, China, and India to float the idea of an aid consortium to help bail the country out quickly, but the political dimensions have yet to be substantially addressed.

As of now, Gotabaya has expressed no intention to resign his post and retains the broad executive powers instituted under his rule in October 2020; this includes the power to make an array of important appointments and to dissolve the parliament any time after the halfway point of its five-year term. Although Gotabaya has floated the idea of curtailing those powers and on Wednesday reiterated his intention to do so in a speech to the nation, that has yet to move forward. As of Saturday, he retains his office and appointed four new cabinet ministers, all belonging to his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, in a bid for stability until a new cabinet can be formed. A strict nationwide curfew, imposed on Monday, continues, as do orders for security services to shoot on site anyone deemed to be participating in acts of vandalism or arson.

But protesters, both in the streets and online, are still demanding Gotabaya’s resignation, which Saravanamuttu said is crucial for the country’s future.

“The demands of the people are for the president to go and failure to address this will be to the detriment of the country.”