Lloyd Singh
(Eyewitness)Khemraj
Ramjattan is a lawyer by profession. When he’s wearing his other hat
as a politician, he should remember this fact. When he makes
utterances, he does so with such alarming frequency, he brings the
entire legal fraternity into disrepute. We know he has no pride, but one
wonders if he has no shame also.
Using
the excuse of the expired drugs found by a parliamentary committee –
which included Indra Chandrapal of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic
(PPP/C) – Ramjattan launched an attack on the Ministry of Health that
demonstrated an inexcusable lack of knowledge about the supply of drugs
to hospitals.
So
what’s his solution to the problem of expired drugs? “We would like to
see quality drugs placed on the shelf with long shelf lives,” he
intoned. We know you, dear reader, must have exclaimed, “What kind of
nonsense is this?” But we kid you not. This is exactly what this
Ramjattan said. I mean…surely Ramjattan can’t actually believe that
manufacturers of pharmaceuticals package some drugs with “long shelf
lives” and others with “short shelf lives”?
If he
does then he ought to be committed to that institution near the Canje
Bridge. All drugs have their particular period in which they degrade to
a point where they lose their efficacy. Because we’re not dealing with
rum, with which Ramjattan may have greater familiarity, we have to
inform him that you don’t age pharmaceuticals so that they have “long
shelf lives”. Each chemical spontaneously decomposes based on its
chemical stability and the ambient conditions.
Ramjattan
couldn’t resist also making a crack about NEW GPC INC and “sole
sourcing” even though the auditor general’s report explained the
difference between that concept, pre-qualified bidders, and providing
proprietary (patented) formulations. He, however, disingenuously refused
to reveal that the actual expired and possibly overstocked drugs found
at the hospital were all supplied by his friend and supporter – who
last year billed the Ministry of Health for a cool $512 million.
NOTE:
The supporter and friend in question is Lloyd Singh. Singh is a
businessman of questionable character and owner of IPA Pharmaceuticals.
He bankrolls the AFC and is very close to its leader Khemraj Ramjattan.
He recently feted Ramjattan and his wife at and city restaurant
and also owns a rumshop in Ogle at which himself and fellow AFC member
Sasenarine Singh were involved in a fist fight a while back.