The Hon. (Dr.) Nalinda Jayathissa

¶ 01 Hon. Member, the companies that imported substandard medicines have been identified. An internal investigation is being conducted into how that process took place. In particular, a number of patients who underwent cataract surgery at Nuwara Eliya General Hospital lost vision; some became completely blind. A committee headed by an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health was appointed. Its report was received yesterday. Accordingly, the Cabinet decided yesterday to provide compensation from the Government to the affected patients—there are 66 such patients. This kind of compensation has no prior precedent. We have now established such a compensation mechanism. Further, the Cabinet decided that legal action should be taken against those who were responsible for importing that medicine. We are conducting inquiries and will refer matters to the relevant authorities to take legal action against all responsible parties.