Court orders arrest of all responsible Health officials

Maligakanda Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama yesterday ordered the arrest of all responsible officials of the Health Ministry, regardless of their rank, who were deviating from the regular procedures of the Government in connection with the importation of substandard immunoglobulin injection vials.

The Magistrate issued this order while ordering that Janaka Fernando, the owner of the company which allegedly imported the vaccines in question, who was arrested and remanded in connection with the incident, be remanded until November 29.

The Magistrate who issued notice to Dr. Vijith Gunasekera, former Chief Executive Officer of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), informed him that a report should be submitted to Court and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) within a week from yesterday, regarding the reason for the questionable vaccines being sealed and their condition, which have been ordered by the Court to be removed from use and stored under specified standards and environmental conditions.

The Magistrate recorded her order and said that it is considered that he is deliberately delaying by not acting according to the previously issued Court orders. Deputy Solicitor General Lakmini Girihagama, representing the Attorney General, requested the Court to issue a warrant against Dr. Vijith Gunasekara for not releasing the report requested by the Court the previous day, since investigations have been delayed due to him. The Magistrate informed the court that only a summons will be issued, since a date for submitting the report had not been specified the previous day.

Also, the Magistrate ordered the CID to obtain and check telephone records of all suspects in this incident and especially to check the WhatsApp records through relevant methods.

Deputy Solicitor General Girihagama made a lengthy presentation to the court on behalf of the Attorney General, stating that the Government had paid more than Rs. 44 million for 900 vials of immunoglobulin vaccines without following the proper procedure to be followed in the disbursement of money.

The State Deputy Solicitor General informed the court that 3,985 vials of the vaccine in question had been requested through the tender and given to patients with severe neurological disorders and investigations had confirmed that four patients had faced critical conditions.

One thousand of these vaccines have been banned. She informed the court that after the money was credited to the suspect’s account for 900 vials, the suspect left only Rs. 67,000 in the account and withdrew all the money.

On January 4, the suspect had been requested to import the 7,500 vials of the vaccine in question, but he had been authorized to supply 22,500 vaccines and Girihagama said that he is one of the links in the conspiracy that started from the emergency purchase of the call for tenders. He had applied for the registration certification three times and not received it. She said that Rs. 44 million has been embezzled and it is an offence under the Public Property Act.

Although the suspect had said that he would import raw materials from India, no purchase was made. Blood plasma had also been purchased in violation of the legal procedures implemented by the National Blood Bank. She also informed the court that after the tender, for the first time, he had purchased blood platelets from the National Blood Bank stating that it was for protein testing on 18 occasions.

“Proper standards should be checked while purchasing medicines. Another team of officials is working in that regard. This cannot be done without these people coming together. Behind the suspect there is a group of people who are starting the process of gross abuse. This is taking place because of their needs.”

President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa who pleaded with the court on behalf of the suspect said, “My client cannot be charged under the Public Property Act in relation to this incident. The person responsible for this incident is the person who presented the emergency purchases to the Cabinet, Secretary to the Health Ministry and Dr. Vijitha Gunasekara and a group of people who prepared the WOR document.”

He said that the CID had informed the suspect to plead guilty and that they will close the case in relation to this incident. He admitted that the raw materials were not brought from India and asked the court that the high-ranking people who should be arrested in connection with the incident are at large and that the suspect be released on suitable bail. He also mentioned that his client had received approval in 2015 to manufacture vaccines.

The post Court orders arrest of all responsible Health officials appeared first on DailyNews.