An attempt is afoot to blame the immunoglobulin import scam on chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) Prof. S.D. Jayaratne and remove him from the position, according to Health Ministry sources.
Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, a former NMRA director board member, is likely to be appointed in his place.
However, health minister Ramesh Pathirana has yet to take a final decision, as Wijewickerama was reportedly involved actively in the Galle Face uprising.
An ongoing CID investigation has revealed the involvement of certain top officials of the Health Ministry in the import of substandard immunoglobulin vaccines by faking documents.
The probe is taking place on a written complaint lodged by the NMRA on 03 October.
Although a ‘B’ report submitted in a related case 10 days later named no suspects, courts ordered to arrest the culprits and produce them before courts.
The CID has also found that racketeers have used a malfunction of the NMRA’s computer system to their advantage in this scam.
A separate case into the deletion of 1.1 million NMRA data files on medicines-related information is to be taken up by courts on 30 November.
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