Parly grills defence dept over illegal importation of Interferon that cost R260m The first consignment of the drug landed in South Africa in April, together with Cuban medical personnel. FILE: Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. Picture: GCIS.
47 days ago
CAPE TOWN - The Department of Defence has been grilled in Parliament over its illegal importation from Cuba of nearly a million vials of anti-viral drug, Interferon, at a cost of R260 million.
The first consignment of the drug landed in South Africa last year, together with Cuban medical personnel.
The drug is unregistered for use in South Africa and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) only applied to the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for authorisation for its bulk use months later when it was denied.
defenceWeb
Written by defenceWeb -
A vial of Heberon.
The spending of around R260,59 million on a Cuban drug for use by South African soldiers and other national defence force personnel will be the subject of a thorough investigation.
This comes in the wake of pressure by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, in the form of its shadow defence and military veterans minister Kobus Marais, and the ruling party, he said in a statement.
The amount of R260,59 million quoted for acquisition of Heberon (the unregistered medical drug Heberon Alfa R, containing the active ingredient interferon alpha 2b) by the Auditor-General is converted from the US price of $15 048 872,50. This is set out in the Second Special Report on the financial management of government’s COVID-19 initiatives provided by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke.