00:00The Minister of Health is the only one responsible in law for the granting of special permission permits for the
00:05importation of drugs,
00:07whether it be narcotics on the schedule or pharmaceuticals.
00:10But the Public Accounts Appropriations Committee has learned that from 2015 to 2024, a different practice occurred.
00:17Who decides that, whether the permission is granted or not?
00:24For the special permit?
00:26Yes.
00:27Would be the CMO.
00:28Chief Medical Officer.
00:29Asked by PAAC Chairman Jack Dale Singh where in the Food and Drugs Act gives such power to CMO Dr.
00:36Roshan Parasram,
00:37former Director of the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division, Faz Khan, makes this admission.
00:43For my knowledge, none exists.
00:45The CMO was not party to the hearing to provide an answer as to where such a decision came from.
00:52I want an answer.
01:00There are four senior, five senior officials in the Ministry of Health here.
01:06And not one of you can give me an answer as to where this power granted to the CMO was
01:17exercised.
01:20How much is the amount of money?
01:22How many dollars?
01:25Almost 3,000 times.
01:272,761 times to be exact from the years 2015 to 2024, based on documentation provided to the PAAC.
01:59So, we have 2,700 and more instances.
02:06There are instances where whoever it is acted unlawfully, illegally, without jurisdiction and ultra-virus, the powers contained in the
02:20act.
02:20Then, there's a policy outlining conditions for special permission.
02:25One, unavailability of drugs from the registered manufacturer.
02:29Two, the need for clinically therapeutic alternate drug due to the unavailability of the existing preparation.
02:36This may be due to supply chain disruptions for various reasons.
02:41And three, personal use.
02:43Health officials say this policy had no cabinet approval.
02:47Apart from that, questions as to how Listerine, Bengay-Ridoxan and other drugs that seemingly fell outside of the approval
02:55criteria ended up receiving approval are yet to be clarified.
02:59Who would have recommended that to the CMO to sign off on?
03:04Okay, so I do recall recommending Listerine and those things.
03:08Smith Robertson, which is a vendor, has been said to be a beneficiary of the majority of the permits by
03:13way of percentage.
03:14But that aside, a conflict of interest allegedly done under directive from Dr. Paris Ram.
03:20The CFDD, which is the statutory regulator for these importers, was in direct contact with Smith Robertson, requesting documentation and
03:29issuing advice on moving the approval process forward.
03:33It says this was done for all other importers.
03:37We want a comprehensive search of the silver.
03:41We want to see that there was equity and that all importers were given the same treatment as Smith Robertson.
03:48The CMO was not copied in emails between the CFDD and Smith Robertson pertaining to that and admitted error on
03:55the part of Doonat Cebu.
03:57Claire answers about why there were unnamed individuals importing under special permission for personal use to supply the government are
04:06also pending.
04:06The procedure used for the special permission permits has since been brought in and by the CMO, who had indicated
04:13that intention to the CFDD during some of the later approvals.
04:18The PAAC chairman says the CMO will be invited to respond to the claims.
04:22We have reached out to Dr. Paris Ram and are awaiting a response.
04:27TV6 News also contacted former Health Minister Terence D'Alsing.
04:30He tells us that he would have granted special permission permits on advice from the CMO in keeping with proper
04:37procedure.
04:38But he says he is unaware of any such permits that were allegedly granted by the CMO.
04:44Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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