The government has also decided to use a Japan-funded project of 3,935 million yen to enhance management of non-communicable diseases through improved facilities at the secondary level hospitals and through drug security. The preliminary work conducted under a five-year project by the health ministry, which is now in the process of implementing its strategy of creating awareness on early detection of NCDs, found that many secondary hospitals in the country are generally underutilized due to lack of appropriate facilities. The health ministry, which has adopted a slogan 'healthy life for all', is now in the process of implementing its strategy of creating awareness on early detection of non-communicable diseases.

The pharmaceutical market in Sri Lanka

Rise in life expectancy and government initiatives have supported the growth of the pharmaceutical market in Sri Lanka. According to Business Monitor International (BMI), Sri Lanka's pharmaceutical market is expected to post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.2 percent between 2010 and 2015 in local currency. Nevertheless, by 2015, the market will still be worth less than $700 million on account of low pharmaceutical prices and low per capital spending on medicines. The pharmaceutical market is about $ 460 million for 2012, an increase of 3.6 percent over previous year's market size of $444 million.

Sri Lanka's competitive domestic pharma market is estimated to grow 11 percent annually. Despite a healthy growth, Sri Lanka has only six active local pharmaceutical manufacturers and the shortfall is met by imported products from more than 300 international manufacturers.

The government spends around $140 million annually on medicines alone. Private sector research has shown that among the promising growth segments within the Sri Lankan pharma market are chronic care, cardiovascular, and anti-diabetics segments. The pharmaceutical trade sources said that the market share of generic drugs too has increased steadily over the past few years, and now represents almost two-thirds of the market.