Minister becomes protector of drug producer: doctors’ union

(October 27, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Director of the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital says that an anti-venom serum that was not in a usable state has been discovered at his hospital.

At a media briefing yesterday, the All Ceylon Government Medical Officers' Association said that several spoilt vaccines, including rubella vaccines had been imported from India.

The anti-venom vaccine was discovered from the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital. It is used as an anti-snake venom serum for patients bitten by snakes and other reptiles.

Dr. T. B. Wijeykoon, Director of the Anuradhapura hospital said that he had reported the matter over the weekend.

He went on to say that they had stopped the administering of the vaccine after a circular had been issued in that regard.

The Association also commented on the anti-venom serum.

The president of the association said that the serum had to be a white dust.

“When dissolved in distilled water, it should create a colourless, water-like solution. When this is injected it has the ability to act as an anti venom for snake venom. When this serum is dissolved the doctors saw that the solution had discoloured,” he said.

“This too is produced by an Indian company. This is in the form of a vaccine. The expiry date on this is July 2012. The dust of the vaccine that is supposed to expire in 2012 has solidified. When this is administered to patients, they die not because of snake venom, but due to the anti-venom,” he added.

Meanwhile, issuing a statement, the Health Ministry noted that on the 9th of this month, the National Quality Laboratory of the Medical Research Institute had identified the serum in question as it did not have the relevant standard colour.

The ministry had been advised by the Medical Supplies Unit to stop the use of this serum if it had discoloured.

Accordingly, all medical officers including provincial health directors, deputy provincial health directors and directors of teaching hospitals had been informed in that regard.

However, doctors point out that laboratory facilities to test the serum in question is not available in Sri Lanka.

“There is no laboratory to do such tests. The government, the Health Ministry should be held responsible for this. This is a very serious situation. The Health Ministry is acting very irresponsibly. This is the first time in the medical history of Sri Lanka that so many problems had arisen over treating patients, inefficiency and issues of low quality drugs have been reported.

“This is the last week of October. By now the Ministry has issued circulars on 47 medicines stating that they are of low quality. The reports which confirmed that these are of low quality came even after the expiry dates,” said the doctors.

Meanwhile, vials containing glass pieces were discovered at the Ratnapura hospital on two separate occasions while a piece of glass was also found inside a vial at the Elpitiya Base Hospital.

The Health Ministry has handed over investigations in this regard to the Criminal Investigations Department to determine if these incidents were in fact acts of sabotage.

Nishantha Dassanayake, President of the Association said that when low quality medicines were imported, the government simply removed it from circulation.

“Is this their personal property that they wash their hands by removing these vaccines which were imported with public funds. They do not take action against the company. When a fraud is revealed the CID is called in to conduct investigations against doctors.

“We believe that the Health Minister is unable to bear the number of allegations against him. He must be thinking of quitting, but reluctant to do so to cover up his mistakes and responsibilities. He has entrusted the responsibilities on other people and come with a strategy of a conspiracy and is wasting the time of the CID officers. We would like to say that you will be the guilty party when the investigations are concluded,” he said.

Commenting on the rubella vaccine, he said that they entertained serious doubts about the quality of the drug.

We requested the Health Ministry to remove this vaccine from circulation. It had been the government policy to just administer the vaccines since the expiry date was nearing. After we revealed facts on the company that manufactures the rubella vaccine, which is the Serum Institute of India, the Health Minister has become the protector of that company. Sadly as the Health Minister of Sri Lanka, instead of taking the side of the public, he has become the spokesperson for the company and insists that the company's quality is high,” said the the president of the Association.

-Sri Lanka Guardian