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Keheliya dismisses allegations: Says a ‘friend’ paid his hotel bill in India which he settled later
View(s):Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that reports criticising the Health Ministry’s efforts to procure medicines from locally unregistered Indian companies on the basis of unsolicited proposals to tide over a drugs shortage were untrue, false and malicious. At a news conference on Wednesday, he also implied that they were politically motivated to create instability in the country.
The Minister said that Cabinet had allowed the purchase of drugs from two Indian companies and also broadened the scope to include “other selected suppliers” and “other funding resources” outside of the Indian credit line.
“Not only the Cabinet…the Cabinet approved it…subsequently it goes to the economic subcommittee where I’m again a member, and the President has completely approved it, subject to the CANC [Cabinet appointed negotiating committee] or the emergency procurement committee [Health Sector Emergency Procurement Committee],” he said. “And that committee sat and decided what to bring and what not to bring.”
Of the US$ 1bn credit line offered to Sri Lanka by India this year, US$ 200mn was allocated to the Health Ministry, the Minister said, sketching the background. Of that, around US$ 40-50mn (including some finds diverted from other sectors) remains.
But it was a lengthy process to buy drugs involving 10-15 approvals. “It took a lot more time than we anticipated,” he said. The ICL mandates the purchase of Indian drugs from Indian exporters through the State Bank of India. Some Sri Lankan companies doing business with India had accounts in different banks and it took time to “get those changed”.
Once an order is placed, it took four months for manufacture and supply. In an emergency, this could sometimes be reduced “a little”. Top-level Indian manufacturers treated Sri Lanka’s requirements as minuscule. “We felt that they didn’t have the urgency to meet our orders,” the Minister said.
He thanked Sri Lanka companies that worked amicably with the Ministry despite billions of rupees being owed to them. But there was still an issue with buying the necessary drugs–of the 384 medications deemed “essential”, 153 are short.
The Minister waved documentation to guarantee Savorite’s status as a leading drug manufacturer. He said one of the plants he visited (of Kausikh) sold 65 percent of its products to Australia. So the NMRA CEO used Australia’s certifications “because of this urgency”. The Minister claimed there was provision for this to be done.
“If it takes six months, there are procedures for which it can be done in two weeks,” he insisted. The visits to India were undertaken because of allegations that some manufacturing was a home industry there and drugs were of low quality.
When the Indian credit line was due to expire, the Minister went personally to the Indian High Commissioner’s residence in Colombo and secured an extension till March 31.
“Within these three months, I have to somehow get US$ 40-50mn worth of drugs in whatever manner possible,” he said. Of the 180 tenders called in Sri Lanka, only three suppliers came through. As the ICL payments sometimes get late, bank rates are high and there are billions of rupees worth of unpaid bills, many companies did not apply.
“When the urgency came to light, several parties came to the ministry to meet us and said we can supply,” he continued. “This (Savorite) is one such company. It was completely evaluated. Two officials went to India and said it had the third largest manufactory and was exporting to 36 countries. I was happy with it.”
But neither the CANC nor HSEPC were bypassed. There was also the price negotiation committee. “If a drug is manufactured in India and is used in India’s public health sector and India’s good manufacturing practice certification has been obtained…we are using it temporarily at this time,” the Minister said.
When a dossier is sent for NMRA approval, it takes around one year to be approved. If an item is good enough to be used in Britain’s National Health Service, “it cannot be bad for Sri Lanka…in an emergency situation. Not under normal circumstances. Under normal circumstances, you go through the whole process”.
“All due processes have been followed,” he insisted. “We are doing this to save lives. Whatever the economic problem in the country, even if the whole country falls, the health sector cannot collapse.”
Kausikh has been given provisional approval and it will now go for NMRA appraisal, the Minister said. On his visit to that company’s factories in India, he insisted he spent personal funds. He paid for his own airfare (there were travel agencies that gave him huge discounts).
When it came to the luxury hotel, all four of his credit cards were declined because of a weekly limit of Rs 140,000. He told a friend in India to do the booking and the first thing he did upon landing in Chennai was to reimburse him US$ 1,200 in cash. He had a letter acknowledging receipt with a company name “Lux Flavours”. A google search showed it to be a food processing firm.
The Minister said he went to India to see for himself the quality of the factory that would supply millions of dollars worth of medication to Sri Lanka: “Do I not have the right to use my own funds to inspect one or two of these factories?”
About Kausikh being blacklisted, the Minister showed a list of what he said was 1,000 suspended suppliers. When they lodged appeals, these were examined and they were usually reinstated. It wasn’t new.
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