The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 asked the Minister of Health and Mass Media:

¶ 02 (a) Will he inform this House - (i) whether situations have arisen in which essential drug suppliers are being discredited and removed from supply by deliberate creation of quality failures in relation to several major pharmaceutical products; and (ii) the occasions where life-saving/expensive drugs that are required to be stored at a temperature between 2–8°C have been withdrawn from use due to various reasons during the last five years?

¶ 03 (b) Is he aware - (i) that the removal of long-term suppliers through the creation of quality problems in drugs is also taking place at the regional hospital level; (ii) that those suppliers refuse to submit estimates for tenders of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation due to the said reason; and (iii) the number of drugs removed, batch withdrawals or product withdrawals done by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority?

¶ 04 (c) Will he also inform this House - (i) whether he is aware that those removed drugs are being sold in the private market; (ii) whether there is a separate Division to lodge complaints regarding such irregularities; and (iii) if so, the number of such complaints received in the year 2024?

¶ 05 (d) If not, why?