A senior doctors’ trade union has called on the Ministry of Health and the National Medicines Regulatory Authority to publicly address allegations that expired rabies vaccines were administered to patients, after evidence reportedly emerged during the ongoing case against former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, Chairman of the Doctors’ Trade Union Alliance for Medical and Civil Rights, told Daily Mirror that former NMRA Executive Director Dr. Savin Semage testified before the Special High Court three-judge bench hearing the substandard-medicines case that expired hydrophobia vaccines were given to patients to avoid the financial losses associated with destroying excess imported stock.
Dr. Sanjeewa said the claim, if accurate, had seriously damaged public confidence in the country’s healthcare system. He argued the Ministry had a responsibility to issue a clear scientific explanation about how the alleged administration had taken place and what safety implications it carried for patients who had received the doses. As of the report, the Health Secretary had not responded and the NMRA had also remained silent.
Rabies vaccines are administered post-exposure in cases of suspected animal bites, with the success of treatment depending on prompt administration of doses that meet potency specifications. Expired vials are not automatically harmful, but their efficacy in conferring immunity is not assured, which carries fatal risk for a disease that has no cure once symptoms set in.
The court testimony has not been independently corroborated outside Daily Mirror’s account and remains an allegation read into the record by the defence’s questioning. The Health Ministry has been a regular subject of accountability scrutiny in recent months, including the tracking of NMRA’s role in pharma exports and a WHO mission on unsafe medical products convened with NMRA in May.
