DA requests Military Ombud to investigate SANDF Covid-19 drugs debacle
16 November 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Military Ombud, Lt Gen (Ret) Vusumuzi Masondo, to request an investigation into the debacle around the R215 million the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) wasted on importing Heberon Alpha R 2B, also known as Interferon, to use as Covid-19 treatment even though it is not registered for use in that capacity by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).
Recently a scathing preliminary report from the Auditor-General (AG) of South Africa painted a dark picture of the procurement of these drugs. Not only did the Department of Defence (DoD) not provide the AG with the necessary information to complete the investigation, it seems that the Department did not comply with legislation regarding the importing of non-registered pharmaceuticals before, during or after the fact. The Department also seemingly failed to follow the proper protocols related to monitoring the cold chain storage and transportation of the imported drugs, and there are serious concerns around the integrity, and subsequent usability, of a large number of the imported vials that have yet to be addressed.
An answer as to why DoD felt the need to import medication in the first place and sought to remove this responsibility from the Health Department has yet to be answered as well.
As highlighted in a Sunday Times article, the report noted that SANDF had permission for the treatment of one patient with 10 vials of the imported Heberon Alpha R 2B, but that SAHPRA rejected the application for treatment on a large scale.