00:00Former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Roshan Parasram has told the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee
00:06that a granting of special permission for the importation of pharmaceuticals does not lead to registration of the drugs in
00:13all instances.
00:14He explains the three circumstances under which it is granted.
00:18One in cases of emergency medication requirement, two in cases of personal use, and three in cases of stockholds.
00:26The latter simply means out of stock.
00:28He points to that as the reason why products such as Redoxone, Philips Milk of Magnesia, and Bengese
00:35ended up being imported under special permission, despite these items not being critical or life-saving drugs.
00:41This question in turn coming from PAAC Chairman Jack Dave Singh.
00:46What's troubling about that is why would you have needed special permission for that?
00:52In a situation, in a country where there's a stop-out of any medication, it applies.
00:56Dr. Roshan Parasram states that the registration process for imported pharmaceuticals can be as long as 180 days,
01:04and in order to circumvent the lengthy wait, special permission permits were used temporarily to acquire products.
01:11But damning allegations, including that this was being done on a continuous basis,
01:16without leading to registration, were made against the former CMO at a prior PAAC hearing.
01:23It was also stated by FASCAN that Dr. Parasram had intended to end the special permission process
01:29and had advised staff at the health ministry to contact suppliers, informing them of such.
01:35Today you are telling us that is not true.
01:38We are going to try to control the numbers coming into the system.
01:42That's what we were trying to do.
01:43So we were trying to get the suppliers to register the products through the regular channels and not use this
01:50process.
01:51And as the PAAC drilled down further, evidence couldn't prove otherwise, as highlighted by Professor Prakash Passad.
02:00Dr. Parasram was absent at a minuted meeting of the Drug Advisory Committee, where the statement was made.
02:06When I read what was said, the vice chair would have said.
02:09So he quoted you?
02:10They quoted me, I wasn't there.
02:12No, exactly. So one can really verify what it is.
02:16Correct, yeah.
02:17And I think we should make that point. I mean, there's no way that, no time you said in writing
02:22or email.
02:22No.
02:23As for a narrative, that the then-CMO singled out companies like Smith-Robertson for his staff to engage with
02:30the information.
02:31Saying, Chairman, that the discussion that we had was the contact all. It wasn't for any specific pharmaceutical company.
02:39The PAAC says it requested disclosure for all companies contacted, but it was only provided information for Smith-Robertson.
02:48The question has also been posed as to how five companies out of a list of 135 ended up dominating
02:56the special permission space.
02:58Well, it is something that the PAAC chairman plans on probing even deeper.
03:04Each special permission request, granted or denied, should have been attached to an email requesting such.
03:10Dr. Paris Ram says he would not have been in receipt of those emails, as they would have been lodged
03:16with two technical departments,
03:18that of the principal pharmacist and or the chemistry, food and drugs division.
03:23Well, I can put the ministry on notice that we, at the end of today's session, we would want those
03:29documents.
03:29For each of these 2,700 and something, we would ask for those application letters and the email.
03:41The PAAC is set to conduct another sitting on the matter.
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