DSG tells Colombo Chief Magistrate pharmaceutical mafia may have had hand in loss of NMRA data

Suspect seeks access to data base again

By AJA Abeynayake

Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dileepa Peiris yesterday informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate Court that the pharmaceutical mafia might have had a hand in the recent data loss from the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) database.

He said so when the case on NMRA data loss was taken up for hearing before Colombo Chief Magistrate Buddhika Sri Ragala.

The DSG informed the court that private company Epic Lanka technology Ltd., had been responsible for maintaining the NMRA’s database for five years and there had been a data loss owing to the negligence and irresponsibility of that company.

 The DSG informed the court that the company in question had no proper mechanism to maintain the database and it had failed to maintain a backup of the data.

 Pharmaceutical companies imported the same type of medicine under various names, Deputy Solicitor General Peiris said.

Nalinda Indatissa PC appearing for Harinda Priyadarshana Kalpage, CEO of Epic Lanka technology Ltd., said that his client might be able to recover the erased data if he was given access to the database again.

DSG Peiris pointed out that the NMRA database had information about the composition of various brands of medicine. The contents of such medicine had been stored in the database from which some data had been erased. Owing to the data loss, pharmaceutical companies could now price their medicines according to their whims and fancies. There was also danger of such data being changed if the accused party was permitted access to update the NMRA database, he argued.

 The case was put off till Dec 09.