News
More than 6 bn worth of substandard drugs dispensed to patients
The Committee of Public Accounts (COPA) has disclosed that Rs. 6,259 million worth of drugs faced a quality failure from 2011 to 2020 due to improper storage. The COPA report has further revealed that 99% of such drugs had already been dispensed to patients when the condition was brought to attention. In that situation, it was not possible to recover the cost of substandard drugs from the suppliers, the Parliament said.
The Committee on Public Accounts has directed the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine to expedite the process of facilitating better storage of drugs to ensure their safety.
It has also been observed that the temperature in the warehouses, owned by the Medical Supplies Division, is maintained properly and that the medical supplies are stored in the corridors of the central drug warehouses and hospitals.
Furthermore, the Secretary to the Ministry has pointed out that if there is a system to detect the failure of drugs as soon as they are received, the loss can be recovered from the suppliers and if the quality testing of 60 drugs can be done by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation, this situation can be avoided to some extent.
These concerns and observations were contained in the first report of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament on COPA, which was tabled in Parliament recently (20) by Prof. Tissa Vitarana, the Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts.
The report contains information about the investigations of seven state institutions summoned before the Committee on Public Accounts and one Special Audit Report during the period from 04.08.2021 to 19.11.2021.
A heated argument broke out between Jaffna District MP Archchuna Ramanathan and Fisheries Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar during the Kilinochchi District Coordination Committee meeting held yesterday (16).
A video footage of the incident shows the MP and the Minister engaging in a heated verbal exchange, following which a physical confrontation appeared to develop when the Minister attempted to grab files reportedly in the possession of MP Ramanathan.
“If you lay a hand on me, I’ll lay a hand on you too… got it?” Ramanathan is heard telling the Minister during the exchange.
Police and officials present at the meeting intervened to prevent the situation from escalating further.
The circumstances that led to the confrontation were not immediately clear.
Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has filed an intervening petition before the Court of Appeal in connection with a petition filed by former head of the State Intelligence Service, Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay, challenging his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act over investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The Cardinal has sought permission from the court to make submissions in relation to Sallay’s petition and requested that it be dismissed.
The Colombo High Court yesterday fixed for Aug. 31 the pre-trial conference in the money laundering case filed by the Attorney General against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa, and his great-aunt Daisy Forrest.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli.
State Counsel Oswald Perera requested court to fix a date for the pre-trial conference and informed the judge that the prosecution would announce its position regarding the second accused, Daisy Forrest, at the conference. He also said the prosecution intended to notify court of amendments to the indictment.
After considering the submissions, Judge Singappuli ordered that the pre-trial conference be held on Aug. 31.
The Attorney General has indicted Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Daisy Forrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that they deposited nearly Rs. 59 million in bank accounts knowing, or having reason to believe, that the funds had been unlawfully acquired.
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