ABC analysis of the national drug budget of Sri Lanka during the period of 2005-2015

Introduction: A22.8% of the Sri Lankan health budget is spent on medicines and surgical consumables. Sufficient budgetary allocations with proper procurement procedures has shown to improve the availability of medicines by more than 80%.

Objective: To identify the items which incurred highest cost in national drug budget in Sri Lanka using ABC analysis, to describe the pattern of expenditure on expensive items over a decade and to discuss the factors affecting the change of expenditure.

Methodology: ABC analysis

Results: Results showed that the total drug budget was increasing. Most of the items appearing during the last 11 years in expensive list are “basic” items, which imply the rational prescription pattern at government hospitals. Introduction of high-cost anti-cancer drugs for limited patients has been the major factor in changing the expensive drug list. Strategies used to cut down the prescription of paracetamol and vitamin C can be attributed directly to certain cost reductions. Wide use of antibiotic policies, applied strict control over the use of certain drugs and develop standard treatment protocols are highly recommended to reduce the drug budget.