The Medical and Civil Rights Professionals’ Association (MCPA) yesterday (8) filed a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) regarding the alleged malpractices of the Ministry of Health in purchasing medicines.

Speaking to the media yesterday at the CIABOC premises, the MCPA President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa claimed that the Ministry of Health is wasting public money by spending an unnecessary amount of money to buy medicines in a fraudulent manner, especially at a time when the whole country is in an economic crisis.

He also said that the Ministry that states that it has insufficient funds to buy essential medicines under the normal procedure, is now spending thousands for immediate purchases. “If we ask the Ministry to do something, they always worry, telling us that they do not have money even to buy medicines. But, on the other hand, they spend money to purchase drugs in some other ways outside the Government Procurement procedures. Recently, the Ministry had called tenders to buy a medicine called Cefuroxime. Accordingly, the bidders have bid at very low prices like $ 0.25 per vial. But, the Ministry had neglected all those bidders and purchased 2.5 million vials at a price of $ 0.75 per vial, causing a loss of Rs. 500 million to the Government. That is why we came here to make a complaint regarding these malpractices that are taking place in the process of calling for tenders to buy medicines,” he said.

Recently, Samagi Jana Balawegaya Opposition Parliamentarian and former Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne slammed the Ministry and the Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for allegedly providing false data regarding the current shortage of medicines that could mislead the public. He also claimed that the Ministry is unnecessarily spending a lot of money to buy medicines while spreading false information about the shortage of medicines.