The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) states that they will introduce a security ‘sticker’ to verify registered medicines in the market.

The move hopes to counter several irregularities in the pharmaceutical field such as the entering of substandard and dangerous medicines entering Sri Lanka through unregistered importers.

Speaking to media yesterday (May 12), NMRA Chairman Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama has said that they hope to implement the new move within a month or so.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has proposed to postpone the government’s privatization drive until after the upcoming Presidential election.

“I wish to propose that all moves to sell off state owned assets or enterprises be postponed until a new government is formed after the next Presidential election. The new government will then be able to deal with state owned properties and enterprises in accordance with the mandate they obtain at the election,” Mr. Rajapaksa has said.

The complete statement by the former President is as follows :

A male tuition class teacher and a female school teacher have been arrested by the Police over the incident of allegedly sharing parts of the English Language question paper of the GCE Ordinary Level Examination on WhatsApp with a group of students.

The tuition teacher who conducts private tutoring classes in the Hasalaka area was arrested by the Kandy Computer Crimes Investigation Division and the female teacher had been arrested by the CID in the Gampaha area yesterday (12).

The female teacher is said to be currently undergoing training at a Teacher Training College and has been in charge of examinations in the examination center of a leading school in Gampaha.

It has been revealed in the investigation that she took a photo of the English question paper with her mobile phone and shared it through her WhatsApp group. A senior Police officer of the Criminal Investigation Department stated that the investigations show that the teacher who was arrested at Gampaha took photos of the question paper and sent it to a WhatsApp group on her mobile phone before distributing the relevant question paper to the students.

The suspect male tuition teacher is a resident of Puhulayaya in Mahiyanganaya. Police say that the mother of the arrested teacher is a former principal of a school in the Hasalaka area. Police have also taken into custody two smart phones belonging to the tuition teacher and his mother.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the relevant WhatsApp group of the teacher has over 1,000 students.

This investigation is taking place according to a complaint made by the Commissioner General of Examinations. The official also said that from the investigations done so far, it appears that the question paper has not been leaked from the examination department prior to the exam.

(dailynews.lk)

(This story, originally published by dailynews.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)