News
Who withheld crucial letter from Sinopharm for approval of vaccine?
By Rathindra Kuruwita
Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd, the maker of Sinopharm vaccine responded to questions posed by the Expert Committee appointed, on March 17, to make recommendations for importing the Covid-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka, by April, but the Committee had been presented with requested answers only on 06 May, a day before the WHO approved the use of the vaccine, Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) President Dr. Lakkumar Fernando said yesterday.
Dr. Fernando is a member of the Expert Committee.
“There are many allegations that we delayed approving Sinopharm. This is false. We indeed approved vaccines, which had not been hitherto approved by the WHO, to be used in Sri Lanka. Even the Covishield vaccine had not been approved by the WHO when we gave the nod. The same is true of Sputnik-V,” he said.
Dr. Fernando said that on 17 March they had handed the NMRA a set of questions to be sent to the makers of Sinopharm. On 19 March, there had been an NMRA board meeting on the vaccine. Dr. Fernando was a board member of the NMRA at that point.
“Four of us objected because the expert committee had not approved the vaccine. The board has 13 members. That means there were nine others apart from us. Six of them had been recently appointed by the government and the others were officials. They could have taken a vote and approved Sinopharm. Instead, they appointed another committee to look into Sinopharm. So, from 19 March to 06 May the initial expert committee had been sidelined with regards to Sinopharm.”
Dr. Fernando said that on 06 May afternoon they had been given a document containing answers sent by the makers of Sinopharm. The WHO was to approve Sinopharm a few hours later.
“We approved Sinopharm within 24 hours. However, when we later looked at the document sent by makers of Sinopharm, we saw that they had responded by April. So, why was this letter withheld from us for weeks, even a month? How can they accuse us of delaying the approval of Sinopharm?”
News
Establishment of an Institutional Framework to Inagurate Upper Hydro Catchment Areas Management Authority
Policy approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 08.06.2026 to establish the Upper Hydro Catchment Areas Management Authority for identification and
execution of a formal and long – lasting remedy to secure the central hills including the upper hydro catchment areas enabling them to sustain amidst extreme weather conditions
due to natural calamities and human activities as well as to be used for the sustainable development of the country.
Accordingly, a concept paper has been prepared including
institutional structure, activities, powers, active subject area as well as administrative and coordination mechanism for the proposed authority by an expert technical committee appointed by the Secretary to the President.
Based on the said concept paper, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the President to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a draft bill including legal provisions required for the establishment of Upper Hydro Catchment Areas Management Authority.
News
Introduction of Flora and Fauna (Regulation of actions of the Indigenous Community within the nominated areas) Regulations
With the objective of securing the traditional livelihood and the eco system of the indigenous community, it has been recognized the necessity of introducing a formal regulation methodology to secure their engagement in livelihood activities by being more sensitive to the existing laws.
Thereby, the Fauna and Flora (regularizing) regulations under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (Authority 469) have been prepared so that nominated activities within the prescribed area to a member of the indigenous community
who has been registered for securing the rights acquired from law or custom or usage or traditional stance to execute an act within a certain state land that is fundamental to the survival of the indigenous community permission can be granted
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Environment to publish the said regulations in the government gazette notification and thereby submit to the Parliament for its concurrence.
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