Dearth of drug inspectors hampers raids

by Carol Aloysius

The dearth of Drug inspectors has hampered the on-going raids conducted by the Drugs Authority (DA) against errant manufacturers and suppliers of illegal drugs. Informed sources told the Sunday Observer that the DA had only two drug inspectors at present and were unable to attend to their normal duties as they had to handle clerical and administrative work, such as drafting circulars, attending meetings and prosecuting offenders when cases against errant drug suppliers were being taken up.

"We are confined to our desks and this office when we should be out in the field conducting raids", a spokesman for the DA said. The approved cadre for drug inspectors at present was six and the Director of the Cosmetics Devices and Drugs Authority Dr. Hemantha Beneragama who was in overall charge, had persistently agitated for an increase in the cadre to 20. Following his many appeals, applications for a new batch of drug inspectors to the Legal Enforcement Division of the DA were called for early this week.

We hope the recruitment will be made soon, so that we can get back to our duties", the spokesperson said. At present, the Drugs Unit conducts 3-4 raids per month, "We can increase the number of raids to flush out the number of errant illegal medical drugs suppliers and prosecute them if we have sufficient inspectors," he said.