The decision to discontinue granting free tourist visas to Russians and Ukrainians who have been living in Sri Lanka since Feb 2022 (when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out) was taken after monthslong discussions between ministries and was not a knee-jerk reaction, documents show.
There were no objections from the Tourism Ministry or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stopping the facility. However, the Controller of Immigration and Emigration did not get Cabinet approval for it.
On Feb 1, a full month ago, Immigration wrote to the Public Security Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Tourism Ministry for their positions. The Foreign Ministry wrote back on Feb 19 saying it had no objection as there were now flights to those countries.
It's exhausting to keep hearing "you're just a journalist", "you're just a pattara karaya", "who are you, an unknown journalist" so many years down the line. But the common thread is that this always comes from people in authority who depend on patronage/votes for relevance.
And, yes, this might be a rant. This seems to be the best "insult" they can come up with, either when challenged on their actions/positions or their own relevance. For those who do it right, journalism is a profession, a damn difficult and a damn noble one.
Without professional journalists, the public would not know how those who wield authority are violating their trust. We are not sorry if that hurts. The stories we report hold value to the citizenry and, ideally, help them make decisions when voting.
The health sector investigation is the single longest one I've done in a while, starting December 2022. Had we kept silent, or given up, many more innocent users of government hospitals would have died or suffered. That is now blatantly clear.
The latest @TimesOnlineLK story: There was NO immunoglobulin in the "human immunoglobulin vials" that the health ministry ordered (and bought a part of) and distributed to hospitals. The vials did contain microbes and caused severe reactions in some of those who received them.
We warned repeatedly that IF you do away with the drug regulatory process, there will be dire consequences. Walk-in tenders, unvetted suppliers and dodgy drugs will flood government hospitals. The immunoglobulin case is the WORST outcome of what the health ministry did.
The update for this week on medical procurements story, apart from there have been NO consequences for either @Keheliya_R or his officials: the Health Ministry had ordered 2 more drugs from the same company that sold counterfeit human immunoglobulin to #SriLanka hospitals.
The local company, Isolez Biotech Pharma AG, secured these tenders—as it did with human immunoglobulin—by purportedly using “fake” waivers of registration (WoR) containing “forged” signature and stamp of the chief executive officer of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority.
One of the medicines is a monoclonal antibody called “Rituximab” used to treat certain autoimmune diseases and types of cancer. It was immediately withheld from use when a hospital reported the batch to the NMRA after noticing that the information printed on the box was...
Here are some of the stories we wrote. All of them are based on documentary evidence and solid sources. Information was incredibly hard to get because @Keheliya_R and his henchmen gagged everyone.
In December 2023, we started reporting how #SriLanka's Health Ministry was dismantling the drugs regulatory mechanism and that this poses a serious danger to public health.
Today, we see yet another result of this abhorrent decision to dismantle structures and processes that protect ordinary citizens. Where did the human immunoglobulin given to patients in government hospitals come from? Who made it? Who paid for it?
Health officials, including the politically appointed heads of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), hide behind claims that the drug was brought in on forged documents. This was only "discovered" after adverse reactions were reported.