Supplier charged for selling fake HIV test kits to Govt freed

A pharmaceutical supplier who was accused of selling fake/expired HIV test kits to the Health Ministry has been cleared of the charge.
Davendra Rampersaud of Area G, Hydronie Railway, Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) had been charged with the “sale and distribution of device with misleading representation, contrary to Section 18 (1) of the Food and Drugs Act”. He is reportedly the Area Manager for Caribbean Medical Supplies Incorporated.
It was alleged that on January 16, 2020, the Caribbean Medical Supplies sold and supplied 400 units of Uni-Gold HIV Test Kits with misleading representation to the Health Ministry’s Materials Management Unit (MMU), in violation of the Food and Drugs Act.

Rampersaud had been on trial before Senior Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court. At the close of the prosecution’s case, his lawyers, Latchmie Rahamat and Naresh Poonai, urged the court to dismiss the charge against their client based on insufficient evidence.
In their no-case submission, Rampersaud’s lawyers argued that there was no evidence linking their client to the delivery or sale of any Uni-Gold HIV Test Kits to the MMU. Further, the lawyers argued that there was “absolutely” no evidence linking him to the delivery of any Uni-Gold HIV Test Kits of either batch numbers that were testified in court.
They contended that there was no evidence showing that Rampersaud had any knowledge that any expiry date was changed, false, and misleading on any packaging, because there was no evidence that he supplied or sold any of the items to the MMU.
Without evidence to support these essential elements of the offence, Rahamat and Poonai submitted, the prosecution “failed miserably” to make out a case against their client. Considering this, they urged the court to dismiss the case.
Magistrate Ally-Seepaul upheld the no-case submission and dismissed the charge against Rampersaud on Wednesday.
Following their discovery, the fake devices were seized by the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD). Caribbean Medical Supplies had previously denied knowingly supplying expired goods, and had also claimed to have thoroughly vetted their Kenyan supplier.
According to news reports out of Kenya News Agency k24tv, three businessmen – Erick Mwangi, Jones Olouch, and Robert Njoya – were charged in the Milimani Law Court with selling expired and fake HIV kits to consumers in Kenya and abroad. The news report also indicated that prosecutors revealed that the trio allegedly stole HIV test kits and exported them to Guyana. According to the report, Mwangi was charged separately with exporting 400 packets of counterfeit Uni-Gold HIV test kits to Guyana in December 2019, using the Jomo Kenyatta Airport.
These alleged fake test kits found their way to Guyana. The presence of the fake kits was uncovered when their Irish manufacturer, Trinity Biotech, wrote to the Government.
In its correspondence, the company had revealed that counterfeit boxes of the Uni-Gold HIV Test Kits were created, complete with fake expiry dates, and the expired kits were then repackaged in said boxes. Trinity Biotech had pointed out that only Trinidad-based Transcontinental Medical Products Limited was the authorised distributor of the testing kits.
In the aftermath of the scandal, the World Health Organization (WHO) had issued an alert naming Guyana and Caribbean Medical Supplies, and reporting confirmed cases of fake HIV test kits. The WHO had revealed that through its Global Surveillance and Monitoring System, it had been informed of the distribution of some 8240 fake HIV rapid diagnostic tests kits circulating in Kenya. (G1)