8 September 2021 09:22 am Views - 742
Senior Consultant Physician attached to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama has resigned from the Inter-collegiate Technical Committee of the Director-General of Health Services, informed sources told Daily Mirror yesterday.
According to sources, Dr. Asoka Gunaratne, Consultant Anaesthetist, too has stepped down from the same Technical Committee following the resignation of Dr. Wijewickrama.
“Several key decisions in respect of the Home- Care Management, vaccination programme and other matters related to COVID-19 pandemic, which were supposed to have been taken by the relevant committee, had been taken by several makeshift and unofficial committees on several occasions,” sources said.
Decisions such as to give the Sputnik-V to Kandy with a letter stating that they were given only a single dose of the vaccine and to vaccinate individuals in the age group of 20 to 29 in the Hambantota District with Pfizer, had been taken without the knowledge of the committee in which Dr Wijewickrama was a key member. The decision to give Pfizer jab to 20-29 age group was the immediate cause that precipitated the resignation and the letter issued by the DGHS pertaining to this had been against all recommendations that had been made. Accordingly, Dr Wijewickrama and the other Consultant have resigned in protest of the arbitrary decisions taken to override due recommendations.
The duo had informed the Director-General of Health Services and the Secretary to the Health Ministry about their resignation.
However, sources proceeded to say that the Gazetted body which mainly decided on the immunization strategy in the country was the Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD), which had been in action prior to the pandemic.
“The ACCD has a wide representation unlike the Inter-collegiate Technical Committee of the Director-General of Health Services, which was appointed after the pandemic and is an official committee,” sources added.
Earlier, top Immunologist Prof. Neelika Malavige from the Sri Jayewardenepura University and Prof. A. Pathmeswaran (Community Physician) attached to the Colombo North (Ragama) Medical Faculty had also resigned from the Independent Vaccine Advisory Expert Committee of the drug regulator.