23 December 2022 03:47 pm
Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella who is under fire over his current visit to India, yesterday confirmed his visit and said he was with the CEO of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and claimed his trip to India was self funded while the NMRA CEO was independently funded.
In response to the Daily Mirror article yesterday titled "Is Keheliya in India to purchase meds from private Indian company", Rambukwella confirmed that he was in India as all medicinal procurements, quality control tests must be satisfied before purchasing.
"A few weeks ago another team from the Health Ministry headed by an additional secretary & NMRA officials met with and examined the quality of medicinal products from pharmaceutical companies based in another part of India as part of this work. Once the preliminary fact-finding visit concludes & quality approvals are given by the tech experts, my job is to expedite & fast track the supply from government to government, cut through any unnecessary red tape & ensure a constant supply of quality medicines to the Sri Lankan people," the Minister said.
"As with all medicinal procurements, quality control tests must be satisfied before purchasing. I must also stress that no state funding was used for this venture, as I have funded my own travel whilst the NMRA was independently funded, & as such, added no burden to the State," he said.
However Rambukwella failed to divulge the name of the private Indian company whom he is liaising with to purchase the medicines and also failed to answer why he, as the Health Minister saw it fit to personally visit India to check the quality of the medicines.
He also failed to mention on what basis the private Indian pharmaceutical company was selected and whether this said company was NMRA approved.
He also failed to mention how many drugs was being purchased and at what price and whether these were funds used from the Indian credit line.
Rambukwella's visit to India has raised serious concerns among senior health officials here who have said they were unaware of the purpose of his visit and added that if it was to purchase medicines, then they will demand for an immediate explanation on what basis this said company was selected.