Dawa Ltd yet again in drug scam

By Amos Kareithi and Elizabeth Mwai

Two months after CCI exposed the scandal of unregistered drugs in the market, a manufacturer who was caught up in the scandal is in trouble again.

Dawa limited, one of Kenya’s oldest drug manufacturer, is yet again in trouble with the Government after being caught allegedly trying to sneak in 30 tonnes of suspected counterfeit drugs labelled GoK (Government of Kenya) through the port of Mombasa.

Word Health Organisation defines counterfeit as drug which is deliberately or fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity or source. The Sh10 million consignments ordered by Dawa Limited from China is now at the centre of investigation over the suspected irregular importation.

These are the medical drugs the government was supposed to pay for Sh16.7 million but things went awry for the importers.

Investigation by CCI now reveal that the phantom broker who had imported the consignment on behalf of Dawa Limited has since disappeared and cannot be traced.

The import license used by Dawa Limited, investigations further reveal, was forged.

Pharmacy and Poisons Board now claim the import license had been issued last year and had expired.

"The permits they were using are expired and they altered the dates to make it look as if it is new. This is what made our officers suspicious and the goods were impounded," Pharmacy and Poisons Board’s chief pharmacist, Kipkerich Koskey told CCI.

The whistle was first blown by Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya’s National Chairman, Dr Dominic Karanja on June 12.

"It has come to our attention that a consignment of medicines manufactured in China and consigned to Kemsa (Kenya Medical Supplies Agency) is lying at the port of Mombasa awaiting clearance," Karanja wrote to Ministry of Medical Services Permanent Secretary, Prof James ole Kiyiapi.

Journalists in Mombasa were barred from entering a warehouse where the containers carrying the controversial drugs were being tested to witness the process. Photos/ MAARUFU MOHAMED/ Standard

Earlier on June 10, a member of Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya, Kariuki Muema had circulated details of the consignment and pointed out dangers of the drugs being released into the country.

Karanja wrote his letter on June 11, only a day, after the ship carrying the two 40 feet containers docked at Mombasa.

The cargo was put under 24-hour surveillance by the police, Pharmacy and Poisons Board, Kenya Revenue Authority and Customs officials.

Blowing the whistle

Karanja’s letter, which was accompanied by a detailed schedule of the contents of the two containers, set off a series of actions as the Government moved swiftly to safeguard the lives of its citizens.

Upon receiving the letter, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Industrialisation, Prof John Lonyangapuo responded on June 17.

"We have information from the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya concerning a drug consignment alleged to be originating from China and destined for Kemsa," he wrote.

"This consignment is said to be at the port of Mombasa awaiting clearance. It, therefore, requires us to move with speed to ascertain the nature of the consignment to avoid a scenario where counterfeit and most likely sub-standard medicine get released to the public," Lonyangapuo added.

He warned that cases of counterfeit merchandise, particularly medicine are on the rise exposing Kenyans to grave danger and coaffirming the country’s efforts to combat diseases.

Kiyiapi further declared that the problem needed to be arrested with such determination to ward off unscrupulous business people and other criminal cartels from finding a safe haven in Kenya.

And for a time the cogs in the wheels of justice seemed to be moving as the various Government agents flocked to Mombasa to ascertain PSK’s fears.

Dodging scrutiny

But something went wrong.

On June 15, the day the container with the drugs was to be opened, Dawa Limited managers were unavailable and the grand opening was pushed to the following day. But this was not to be as the press and the very experts who had raised concern about the consignment were locked out from witnessing the testing.

Some health officials too were kept in the dark as the process of verifying what was contained in the controversial cargo started.

Even after the containers were opened, Koskey, the Government’s Chief Pharmacist declined to reveal the contents.

"The contents of the containers are similar to what the Government had awarded Dawa Limited to supply," Koskey later told CCI.

Although he gave no details about the controversial cargo, CCI has since established that Dawa Ltd had been contracted to supply some medical kits, which were to be distributed across the country.

Documents in possession of CCI show the consignment comprised of 6,300 vials of Benzathine Penicillin (2.4mega), another 3,360,001 mega vials and 33,600 Chlorpheniramine injections.

Others include 21,000 Gentamycin injection (20mg/2ml) vials, Adrenalin 10mg/ml, 33,600 ampoules, and Aminophyllin injections 21,000 ampoules. In total, Dawa is suspected to have imported eight items as itemised in Kemsa tender form 17 no.1/6691p/08 and an additional five more products as per form number 56982 of 1/6690/08.

When we called Mr Anjay Patel, a director of Dawa Ltd, he curtly replied: "The matter is with Pharmacy and Poisons Board. I cannot say anything more." When CCI called Patel yet again on another day he swiftly answered the phone but on realising what we were after declared: "I am in a small meeting I can’t talk to you now."

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board says they are still keen on getting hold of the person who imported the consignment on behalf of Dawa Ltd.

"We have established that the importer was just a broker. He is not a drug manufacturer. We cannot trace him," the chief pharmacist noted.

The government has not turned to the Chinese Embassy in Kenya for help to trace the source of the drugs as the middleman cannot be traced.

Pharmacy and Poisons board is conducting tests on the chemical composition of the products whose findings they have promised to release to the public in a week. But PSK national chairman is sceptical about the whole process wondering who could verify whether the samples being tested by the National Quality Control Laboratory are from the correct confinements.

"Since the stakeholders were not involved in taking the samples, how valid are the samples. We also want to know why the Government should use taxpayers’ money to test products, which are outright counterfeits," Karanja noted. He contends that according to the World Health Organisation regulations, once a product has been mislabelled, it automatically becomes labelled counterfeit.

The drugs at the centre of the controversy were labelled "Government of Kenya. Not for Sale" perhaps to hide the origin of the drugs.

Players in the industry feel that if the products were made by Dawa Ltd in their Baba Dogo industries in Nairobi, they should not have been in a shipment originating from China.

Questions are also being asked why the Government would award a tender to Dawa to supply Kemsa with medical kits and then allow it to import the same products from China through a middleman. CCI has established that at least Sh7 million of the taxpayers’ money will be spent to test the quality of the drugs, a burden which ought to have been shouldered by the importer.

"Testing of drugs at the National Quality and Control Laboratory is very expensive. The analysts must determine the effects of the drugs such as sterility and effects on the body when used," a source said.

The PSK chairman feels that the drugs ought to have been confiscated, destroyed or shipped back to the country of origin and the perpetrators put behind bars for fraud and forgery.

Players’ fears

"We do not need to test fake drugs. We do not even need to look for the middleman. The Government knows the company which ordered the consignment," Karanja says.

Medical Services PS says: "The matter is very serious as the firm had won a tender to supply drugs worth Sh17 million. This could be a cartel attempting to defraud the Government."

He said the tender had specified the Government wanted medical kits manufactured locally. "We are wondering what could be in the container and why the importer is using GoK initials," he noted.

But Pharmacy and Poisons Board is even more worried.

"Our worry is bigger than the consignment. We are now trying to conduct investigation to find out whether other consignments have arrived or they are going to be brought into the country," Koskey told CCI.

There are fears that some major companies have been raking in millions of shillings, supplying sub-standard drugs to Government hospitals.