History

Establishment of the Pharmaceutical Society of Sri Lanka.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1968, convened a meeting of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations at national level on a directive of the Commonwealth Foundation with the objective of initiating better communication on an academic level among the pharmacists in the Commonwealth. The invitation requesting a delegate from Sri Lanka for this meeting as an observer was received by the Pharmaceutical Traders Association, which was the only body known for pharmaceutical activities in this country at that time. The President of the Pharmaceutical Traders Association directed the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to send this invitation to the Registrar, Ceylon Medical Council.

It was then made available to Mr. Sylvester Edirimanasinghe, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, and University of Colombo who attended the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Conference held in London from 16th to 20th June 1969. It was unanimously decided by delegates from 28 countries to form the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA).

Immediately after returning from London, Mr. Edirimanasinghe started working towards the formation of a national professional body to affiliate with the association of pharmacists. As s first step a group of enthusiastic pharmacists from both public and private sectors met in the main hall of the administrative block of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo on 18th October 1969. This became a remarkable day for Sri Lanka with the dawn of a new era for the profession of pharmacy by the establishment of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ceylon (now known as the Pharmaceutical Society of Sri Lanka).

It should be gratefully acknowledged the hard work of late Mr. Sylvester Edirimanasinghe and Mr. D.A.A. Munasinghe to achieve this important milestone enabling the Sri Lankan pharmacists to liaise with their international counterparts and for Sri Lanka to become a founder member of the CPA.