News
NMRA defends its chief executive over social allegations on social media
View(s):By Dilushi Wijesinghe
The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) yesterday defended its chief executive officer Saveen Semage against allegations of impropriety levelled by a social media activist against whom the regulator has already lodged a Police complaint.
NMRA chairman Ananda Wijewickrama defended Dr Semage against what he said were false claims made by Sanjaya Mahawatte from the Magen Rata movement, at a press conference at the NMRA office in Colombo yesterday.
Mahawatte had suggested that Dr Semage was appointed by the previous president, implying bias. Dr Wijewickrama said he was selected to the CEO position through a unanimous decision by the NMRA Board.
Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama and Dr. Saveen Semage at a news conference. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
It was also alleged that the massive loss of data in 2021 from the NMRA’s electronic registration system – since defunct – occurred under Dr Semage as CEO. The chairman said, however, that the company that had been responsible for developing the online system was responsible for the data deletion.
“We were first informed of the data deletion on July 9, 2021, as the incident had occurred the night before,” Dr Wijewickrama said, adding that, while the CEO shouldn’t be held responsible, Dr Semage did not hold that position at the time as he took over on November 9, 2021. The data lost was information related to registration requests and there is an ongoing Criminal Investigation Department inquiry.
The chairman also addressed reports attributed to the All Ceylon Private Pharmacy Owners Association that many pharmacies were at risk of closing down by January owing to the CEO’s rejection of applications for licence renewal.
“These decisions are not made by a single individual alone,” Dr Wijewickrama said. “We have committees of specialist doctors and pharmacists. The decision to issue a licence for a pharmacy or grant a waiver of registration for a particular type of medicine is not made by one person alone.”
Complaints have been lodged with the CID regarding “the false accusations against the NMRA” because these claims break public trust and prompt questions about the standard of medicines.
Dr Wijewickrama said there appeared to be a campaign to undermine the NMRA’s efforts to counter corruption, restore public trust and provide medicines of standard quality. “Our responsibility is to provide superior quality medicine at an affordable price,” he said.
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