-By LeN Political Editor
(Lanka-e-News -03.June.2025, 10.40 PM) A prominent private news channel is under intense scrutiny after allegedly broadcasting a false report regarding the re-release of a suspended batch of Human Immunoglobulin (HIG) vaccines, triggering widespread public anxiety and potentially undermining ongoing judicial proceedings against former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
In a sharply worded statement issued during a Cabinet press briefing this week, Cabinet Spokesperson and Minister of Media and Health, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, accused the unnamed television station of deliberate and unethical journalism, suggesting its reporting had caused a “calculated erosion of public trust in the country’s healthcare system.”
The minister’s tirade, delivered with the calm menace of a surgeon diagnosing malignancy, came in response to a news bulletin aired last weekend. The channel claimed that a batch of Human Immunoglobulin vaccines — previously quarantined due to suspected quality issues and central to the ongoing court case against Rambukwella — had been quietly released back into hospitals for public use. The assertion, widely circulated across social media platforms within hours, was presented without official verification and appeared to conflate administrative clearance for a scientifically cleared batch with the original, allegedly tampered consignment.
“What we are witnessing,” said Dr. Jayatissa, “is not journalism, but a calculated act of sabotage against the integrity of our public health institutions.”
At the heart of this controversy lies a courtroom saga involving Keheliya Rambukwella, the former Minister of Health under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration. Rambukwella faces charges of criminal negligence and fraud in connection with the procurement of Human Immunoglobulin injections during his tenure.
Investigations allege that instead of importing verified immunoglobulin supplies through standard regulatory channels, Rambukwella facilitated the inclusion of a locally manufactured, unverified substance — falsely documented as Human Immunoglobulin imported from India — into the national hospital system. Prosecutors argue this amounted to criminal misrepresentation, placing thousands of patients at potential risk.
It is this very batch of injections — now deemed at the centre of the “counterfeit vaccine racket” — that the news channel claimed had been stealthily cleared for reuse, triggering a digital avalanche of speculation, conspiracy theories, and political opportunism.
Among the loudest voices was that of controversial political commentator Mahinda Pathirana, who, within hours of the news bulletin, claimed on YouTube that “the very drugs Rambukwella was sent to court for have now been sanctioned for re-use by the current administration.”
Though Dr. Jayatissa did not name the offending channel, his tone left no room for ambiguity.
“This is not some ambiguous voice cut or mistaken quote,” he said. “The presenter read this story live on-air, stating that Human Immunoglobulin was removed from hospital use and is now back — while naming Keheliya Rambukwella in the same breath.”
He continued: “Let me be clear. This is not merely a case of poor editorial judgment. This is media malpractice — done knowingly, and with potentially malicious intent.”
The Minister emphasized that scientific re-evaluation is a routine part of pharmacovigilance. He explained that the recent re-release pertained to an entirely different consignment of HIG injections, imported from an Indian manufacturer and held under temporary suspension pending further laboratory analysis.
“Both local and Indian laboratories have now confirmed that batch to be within safety parameters. Therefore, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) authorised its re-entry into the hospital system. This has nothing to do with the fraudulent batch linked to the legal case against the former minister.”
Despite these clarifications, the media report continues to circulate online in its original form, uncorrected and unamended — an act which Dr. Jayatissa labeled “irresponsible and inflammatory.”
In a media landscape already polarised by politics and profit, the timing and tone of the controversial report has raised eyebrows. With Keheliya Rambukwella’s case attracting daily headlines, the suggestion that the very vaccines used to prosecute him are now being used again under a new administration could be interpreted as exonerating — or at least muddying — his culpability.
Dr. Jayatissa was emphatic in rejecting this narrative. “It is a mischievous conflation,” he said. “The former minister is in court over deliberate acts of fraud. The NMRA’s decision on an unrelated batch of drugs, verified by international labs, does not negate the crimes he is accused of.”
Opposition MPs have seized upon the confusion, with some calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the role of media in manipulating judicial narratives. In one such instance, SJB MP Rajitha Senaratne — himself no stranger to the media spotlight — remarked: “We cannot have rogue media houses running courtroom dramas through Facebook and YouTube.”
Legal experts have echoed this sentiment. Senior attorney Upul Jayasuriya told this paper, “There’s a line between investigative journalism and contempt of court. When media houses wilfully distort facts related to sub judice matters, they risk interfering with the judicial process.”
Few figures in recent Sri Lankan politics are as polarising as Keheliya Rambukwella. Once a loyalist of the Rajapaksa inner circle and former Media Minister himself, he is now facing his most serious legal troubles to date — not for defamation or misuse of office, but for a procurement scandal that prosecutors claim risked the lives of immunocompromised citizens.
The scandal has already resulted in several resignations within the Ministry of Health. According to leaked internal reports, pharmaceutical regulators raised red flags about the suspicious batch as early as mid-2022. However, procurement proceeded with “ministerial intervention,” sidestepping standard quality assurance processes.
Rambukwella has maintained his innocence, insisting he acted on technical advice and that “no patient was harmed.” However, the evidence trail — including doctored import documentation, fake batch numbers, and redacted lab results — tells a far murkier tale.
The private news channel’s recent reporting, if proven to have misrepresented facts, could provide his defence team with a convenient narrative: that the government’s own agencies have contradicted themselves in open court.
The controversy comes at a time when the government is already facing mounting pressure over its handling of media regulation. Earlier this year, the passage of the Online Safety Bill drew fierce criticism from civil liberties groups, who warned that the vaguely defined law could be weaponised to silence dissent.
Dr. Jayatissa, however, insisted that legal action in this instance is not about silencing the press but protecting public health.
“Freedom of the press must come with responsibility. You cannot scream fire in a crowded theatre. Nor can you claim vaccines are dangerous without proof — especially when lives are at stake.”
In response to the outcry, the Ministry of Justice has reportedly instructed the Attorney General’s Department to assess whether provisions under the Penal Code and the recently enacted Data Protection Act could be used to initiate proceedings against the media channel and affiliated social media influencers.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is also said to be monitoring the situation closely.
The incident has reignited the debate about the ethics of health journalism in Sri Lanka. In a nation still reeling from the psychological toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, misinformation surrounding vaccines and pharmaceuticals is not merely a nuisance — it is a national threat.
Public trust in the healthcare system, already fragile due to years of austerity, shortages, and corruption, cannot afford another blow. The Health Ministry, while facing its own credibility issues, now finds itself tasked with defending the very idea of institutional truth.
“It is deeply troubling,” said Dr. Jayatissa, “that even in matters of life and death, some media entities are willing to sacrifice truth at the altar of clickbait.”
As of this week, the government has sent formal notices to both the media institution in question and prominent social media personalities who helped amplify the false report. The NMRA has also released a detailed timeline of its testing and clearance protocols for the re-issued vaccine batch, in an effort to reestablish public confidence.
But whether the damage has already been done is a question for the days ahead.
Social media remains flooded with conspiracy-laced commentary. The opposition smells blood. And former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, whose political career appeared to be buried under a mound of contaminated syringes, may find in this chaos a sliver of redemption — or at least, a more complicated public perception.
In the end, the story is less about one vaccine, one minister, or one news channel. It is a sobering reminder that in the age of hyper-connectivity, truth is fragile — and trust, even more so.
-By LeN Political Editor
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by (2025-06-03 17:02:39)
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