The Chairman of the Sri Lanka State Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Dr. Manuj C. Weerasinghe, said that importing medicines is never a process carried out by a minister or a government. He said this while participating in a media briefing held at the Information Department regarding the deaths of the two patients who died after being given the vaccine ‘Ondansetron’.
Dr. Manuj C. Weerasinghe, who further expressed his displeasure, said:
“It is not the ministers or governments that import medicines into Sri Lanka. That should be understood very clearly. As a ministry, it has a role. To provide the relevant tender for the annual supply required every year to the Pharmaceutical Corporation. Accordingly, that role is carried out according to the role of the relevant procurement committee.
A tender was held in 2022, a tender was held in 2025. The tender for 2025 will come in 2024. If medicine is needed for 2025, that tender will be placed in 2024. It currently takes at least 11 months to place an order and get the medicines into the country. That is the method.
You cannot buy them whenever you want like you can buy them from a store. It takes a long time to make them. It is the role of the Ministry of Health. It was like that in the past and it is like that now”. He said.
Speaking at the event, Director General of Health Services, Specialist Dr. Asela Gunawardena said that it is still not clear whether the two patients at the Colombo IDH Hospital died due to the administration of the vaccine called ‘Ondansetron’. He also said that the samples obtained from the post-mortem examination of the two deceased patients are currently under investigation.
He said that the Ministry of Health and the National Medicines Regulatory Authority are conducting two separate investigations in this regard.
Speaking at the event, Specialist Dr. Annada Wijewickrama, Chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, said that the administration of four batches of the vaccine called ‘Ondansetron’ in question was temporarily stopped before the two patients died. However, he said that with the reporting of these two deaths, other batches of the drug were also temporarily stopped.
He also stated that the use of 10 other medicines imported from the same manufacturing company has also been temporarily suspended.