While stating that he is not worried about the allegations made against him by three members of the Board of Directors of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) who had tendered their resignation on Tuesday (13), NMRA Chairman Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama said that the relevant authorities would however conduct an inquiry and find out if there is any truth to such allegations.

Three NMRA Directors – attorney Manoj Gamage, Dr. Priyantha Serasinghe, and Supul Wijesinghe – resigned on Tuesday, citing criticisms levelled at the NMRA regarding the controversial human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) deal and the irregularities allegedly committed by the current NMRA administration.

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (14), Dr. Wijewickrama said: “I have much other work to do than respond to their allegations. The relevant parties will carry out an inquiry and find out if there is any truth to what they claim.”

The said three members, who were appointed as members of the NMRA's Board of Directors by former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella – who is currently in remand custody over the IVIG deal – had tendered their resignations to incumbent Health Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana.

Tendering his resignation, Gamage had claimed that Dr. Wijewickrama was unhappy about him as he opposed him (Dr. Wijewickrama) when the latter was purportedly attempting to reverse certain decisions that had been taken by the Board of Directors earlier. Alleging that he (Dr. Wijewickrama) had even tried to remove him (Gamage) from the NMRA through the Health Minister, Gamage further claimed that Dr. Wijewickrama was seeking to re-hire a group of employees who were removed from the NMRA over the recent data deletion incident in the NMRA's information system and the deliberate delay in the registration process of new drug suppliers for various financial benefits. 

He further alleged that Dr. Wijewickrama was trying to build a “gang of cronies” within the NMRA and that there had been many irregularities in the recruitment of the current Chief Executive Officer of the NMRA. The other two members who resigned, in their resignation letters sent to the Health Minister, had made critical remarks on the current NMRA administration.