The Ministry of Health is defending the close to $40 million losses in expired drugs identified by the Auditor General as an accumulation of drugs over a five-year period, coupled with the inability of the relevant authority to destroy them on time.
Speaking with Stabroek News on the issue, Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran said, “The whole picture was not given when the bill was tabled in Parliament because if you look closely you would see that the money stated that was lost was not for one year. It was an accumulation of years say five or six… Also, no one mentioned what was gifted, what had short shelf life and what percentage of losses is acceptable for countries and by comparison how much was spent on drugs overall. ”
Multiple attempts made to contact former minister of health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, under