Company charged for illegal import of medical devices

By Bhagya Silva

Colombo, July 2 (Daiyl Mirror) - The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) today filed a case before Colombo Additional Magistrate Pavithra Sanjeewani Pathirana against a Bambalapitiya-based company for the unlawful imports of medical devices, including finger-prick blood glucose testing equipment, alcohol-based sanitisers and medical plasters.

The NMRA informed court that under the provisions of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act No. 5 of 2015, any person or entity intending to import medical devices must obtain a valid registration certificate from the authority.

During an inspection carried out by the NMRA’s Regulatory Division, it was revealed that the company had imported a large stock of unregistered medical devices, including blood testing equipment, plasters for patient use and alcohol-based surface disinfectants intended for use on patients.

The NMRA stated that the imported items were intended for distribution to pharmacies across the country without the required registration. More than 1,500 blood glucose monitoring devices were taken into custody from the company’s premises during the raid.

The complaint was filed by Chief Food and Drug Inspector R.G.N. Wickramasinghe on behalf of the NMRA. The owner of the company, Mohamed Ramzi of Farm Aid (Pvt) Ltd, was named as the respondent in the case.

Additional Magistrate Pavithra Sanjeewani issued notice on the respondent to appear before court on September 18.