Caption: of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee Jagdeo Singh. Photo: T&T Parliament
By Alicia Chamely
CHAIRMAN of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee Jagdeo Singh is raising the alarm over the Ministry of Health Chemistry, Food and Drug Division’s failure to provide a comprehensive list of approved pharmaceutical drugs accessible to Customs and Excise and the public in general.
Accusing the Ministry of keeping this information as a “secret list,” Singh said the unavailability of this information and the lack of communication with Customs and Excise could allow for the importation of unapproved pharmaceutical drugs.
At Monday’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee examination into the State’s Acquisition of Pharmaceuticals, Singh questioned Custom’s Comptroller Riad Juman regarding the process of the importation of pharmaceuticals.
After Juman explained the process of clearing pharmaceutical imports, Singh posed the question as to whether Customs had access to the list of pharmaceutical drugs approved by the Chemistry, Food and Drug Division, to which Juman could not answer clearly.
Singh said, “My question is a simple one, Customs does not know whether any item is on the list of approved pharmaceuticals, biochemistry, food and drugs. Up to today, you have no way of knowing whether an item which is being imported is either approved or not approved, because there is no access to the Chemistry, Food and Drugs list.”
Juman admitted this was the case.
Singh then turned his attention to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Asif Ali, who confirmed there was no published list of approved pharmaceuticals available to either Customs or the public.
Expressing his ire, Singh said, “So what you are telling this committee is, by and large, that this list is a secret list. Would you accept that as of now that we could conveniently label this list as a secret list?”
Ali said while there was no list, all drugs that were approved were published in the National Gazette.
Singh said, “Now that’s a clever way of trying to answer the question. Is there one comprehensive list? So, what you’re telling me is drugs, as and when they are approved, are then gazetted. So, it’s an ad hoc process, so that any importer wishing to import goods into Trinidad and Tobago is going to have to scroll the national Gazette from time immemorial to the present day to determine whether what drug is approved or not approved. Is that what you’re telling me?”
“So, I am even more fortified, in my view. My suggestion to you that this list is a secret list,” he added.
Ali said an online portal allowing public access to the listing of approved pharmaceuticals had been in development for the last two years and was expected to be launched in the first quarter of this year. Ali said the delay was due to how the approved drugs were classified in four separated databases and one could not be presented without the other.
The explanation did little to satisfy Singh, who explained the lack of access of a full listing of approved drugs opened the door for unapproved drugs to enter the country, endangering the public.
Singh said, “But as it is, the fact that it’s non published, the fact that the public can’t access this anywhere, means that it opens a window in the marketplace to be abused, where non approved drugs can be sold to members of the public who have no way of knowing whether these drugs are approved by the division which is supposed to approve drugs.”
The Committee stated they believed the lack of communication and cooperation between Customs and the Health Ministry needed to be resolved, as the current situation created the perfect conditions for illegal imports and public confusion.
