Public has the right to know: Sir John

By SAMUEL BARIASI
PUBLIC Accounts Committee chairman Sir John Pundari yesterday clarified that the media should cover the inquiry into the procurement, supply and distribution of medicine as it was in the public interest.
“The public has the right to know because this inquiry is in their best interest and is a public inquiry,” he said.
He was responding to the concern raised by Health Secretary Pascoe Kase that some reports on the inquiry in the media were one-sided and painted a bad picture of the Health Department.
“Normally, we have to clear these reports properly before they go out to the public,” Kase said.
But Sir John said everything that transpired in the inquiry was covered under parliamentary privilege, and no one in the inquiry could attack or blame another for information and evidence presented.
“Everybody summoned to speak at PAC inquiries were asked to take an oath to tell the truth. Thus the media should not be blamed (for putting it out for public consumption).”
He urged the public to stick to the truth and not to make misleading accusations and threats.
Kase said a number of reports about ISO 9001 certificates in the mainstream and social media was “painting a bad picture” of the department.
He called some reports one-sided, inaccurate and had the potential to create panic in the community.
He said even if an ISO 9001 certificate was removed, it did not mean that the department was going to bring in low-quality medicine into the country.
“The requirement for quality medicine is still inbuilt in our processes. We will never do away with the quality of medicines for our people,” he said.