Health Minister Rambukwella said investigations related to a plan to import a stock of 22,500 vials of Immune Globulin vaccine by preparing a forged document using the signatures of officials of the Medical Supplies Department was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department.
The Minister said that 22,500 vials of the vaccine were ordered through this fake document, but only 3,085 vials have been delivered so far.
The Minister said that although an amount of Rs. 130 million was to be paid for that, only Rs. 40 million was paid, and the payment would be stopped since it was discovered that the vials of these medicines were inferior.
He stated that a tender had been placed to buy these vaccine vials from the company that offered the lowest price, but no inquiry had been made from the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) about whether the drug is registered or not in relation to these purchases.
The Minister said that on average, 80 to 100 substandard drugs are reported per year, but this year, only 43 substandard drugs have been reported, so far.
He said that there is no other option but to hand over the incident to the Criminal Investigation Department.
