Trial to commence on May 11

Apr 16, 2021 News

Pharmaceutical supplier charged for providing expired HIV Testing Kits…

Kaieteur News – The trial for the executive of a pharmaceutical supplies company, who was charged for providing fake HIV testing kits to the Ministry of Health (MoH), is expected to commence on May 11, 2021.

Trial to commence on May 11…

The company, Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc., is one of the country’s biggest local pharmaceutical supply companies. Last year, the company was charged by the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) for allegedly providing MoH with expired HIV testing kits.
Area Manager, Davendra Rampersaud, is the company’s representative who is facing the charge in the Leonora Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate, Zameena Ali-Seepaul. The matter is being prosecuted by Shemroy Pompey, a Drug Inspector for the GA-FDD.
Kaieteur News had reported that during November 2020, Rampersaud received full disclosure of statements in the matter.
On his first court appearance, Rampersaud denied the charge, which alleged that on January 16, 2020, Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc. allegedly sold and supplied 400 units (20 packs) of Uni-Gold HIV Test Kits, Batch #HIV7120026, with misleading representation, a violation of the Food and Drugs Act of 1971.
According to reports, a quantity of the testing kits was seized by the GA-FDD from the Materials Management Unit of the MoH, at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, and from local hospitals and laboratories.
This publication had reported that the probe was launched into the fake HIV testing kits after an Irish manufacturer wrote to the former Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, during January 2020, warning that it is aware of counterfeit Uni-Gold HIV test kits in Guyana.
The Irish company supplied photographic evidence, which indicated clearly that the kits expired since July 2019. In its complaint, the company, Trinity Biotech, named Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc. as the company that was allegedly supplying the expired testing kits.
According to the company, the fake boxes were created with expiry dates extended by 17 months and the kits repacked in them. Trinity Biotech said that the products were already six months out of date when they were brought to Guyana. The company further claimed that its Trinidad-based authorised distributor, Transcontinental Medical Products Limited, is the only authorised distributor for the Uni-Gold kits to Guyana.

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