Efforts by the Health authorities to procure drugs from an unregistered Indian pharmaceutical company named Kaushik Pharmaceuticals blacklisted by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation have reportedly been thwarted.
Even though this company has been chosen to import drugs to Sri Lanka under the Indian credit line, the strong refusal by the National Medicinal Drugs Regulatory Authority that they cannot give approval to that company based on the company’s previous conduct and the objection raised by the medical community had resulted in the decision to stop drug imports from this company.
A source from the Ministry of Health revealed to Lankasara
Minister Keheliya Rambukwella also visited India last December to check the operations relating to pharmaceutical production and the standards maintained by Kaushik Pharmaceutical Company. The minister was severely criticized by the representatives of the relevant pharmaceutical companies for his visit including accommodation in a luxury hotel allegedly footed by the company in question.
In the face of those criticisms, the minister said that he spent his personal money and visited this company to check to provide quality medicines to the people.
In the face of the ongoing foreign exchange crisis, the health minister and the ministry authorities, who are trying to import medicines to the country using the Indian credit line, have selected only two companies, Kaushik Pharmaceuticals and Saveri, and those companies have not primarily tested nearly 300 types of medicines that should undergo an imperative evaluation process before being selected for use. Specialist medical associations including the Sri Lanka Medical Association also accused yesterday that they have arranged to import a large volume of unsuitable drugs. Those doctors emphasized that it is a big crime and danger to try to import untested drugs as well as non-essential drugs to Sri Lanka without any proper census of shortages of many essential drugs.
