• To complain to CID, Speaker, Defence/Public Security Ministries on threats received over revelation of irregularities concerning medicines  

Claiming that he has received death threats for revealing various irregularities with regard to pharmaceutical drugs, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition Parliamentarian Dr. Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana said that he intends to lodge a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and inform the relevant authorities regarding the same.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (3), he claimed that drug-related irregularities involving both the public and private sectors have been taking place in the country over the past few decades, but that many people hesitate to speak out due to their greed for various privileges. “There is a drug mafia in this country. It has been growing slowly for decades. No one speaks against it because the people involved in this mafia are given various privileges and make many people bow to their side.”

In view of the problematic situation in the health sector in Sri Lanka in the past few months, he said that he and several other SJB members are carrying out a great deal of work to defeat the drug mafia. It is due to these efforts that they have had to face various threats, he claimed. “In the past few days, I and several people assisting me in this work received various threatening calls from unknown phone numbers. There were even death threats. This is a country where people who opposed the drug mafia die mysteriously. Therefore, this is a serious situation,” he said.

Speaking further, Dr. Jayawardhana said that he would discuss with the lawyers of the SJB and initiate the necessary legal action in this regard. In addition, he said that he would lodge a complaint with the CID, requesting a prompt investigation and action against the suspects. “I hope to inform Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, the Ministries of Defence and Public Security and the other relevant authorities regarding this matter,” he added.

Recently, Jayawardhana and his group paid an unannounced visit to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) in Colombo, seeking clarification on the alleged continued use of substandard drugs in hospitals. He said at that time that they had intended to meet the higher officials of the NMRA, but that both the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the NMRA were not present at the premises at the time of their visit.