Novice Director authorized to approve entry of pharmaceuticals

Danini Contreras

News Five confirmed on Tuesday that newcomer Contreras is now also authorized to approve the entry of pharmaceuticals through Customs. That decision was taken by C.E.O. in the Ministry of Health Peter Allen. He claims he did so because he was told that Chief Pharmacist Sharon Anderson was on strike and could not hold the system on ransom. The move by Allen has sounded alarms, because authorization to approve the movement of pharmaceuticals across the border is heavy stuff. And it gets even more interesting because Danini Contreras’ posting as Drug Inspectorate Director has not even been approved by the Ministry of the Public service.

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Peter Allen, C.E.O., Ministry of Health

“We haven’t completed the process yet with the Ministry of the Public Service or the Ministry of Finance and we are not sure whether or not the post will be created. But if it is created, and if the finances are made available, then what usually happens is that the Ministry of the Public Service will direct to us how the post should be filled – whether there should be advertising, how that should be done, what should be the job description, who will be on the evaluation panel and so on and that is the process that we are committed to following.”

Reporter

“Sir, is Danini Contreras a registered pharmacist?”

Peter Allen

Peter Allen

“Ms. Danini Contreras is a pharmacist. Now, when she came to Belize she applied to take the Pharmacy Board Examination. The Pharmacy Board Examination sits, I think it’s done at the moment, twice a year. Now she arrived at the end of January and the next examination was in February and she was told that she would not be able to take the examination at that time, so she is not employed to practice as a pharmacist. She is employed to practice as an Inspector. And let me make this point clear – the training for a Drug Inspector, and by all means come and see it, it takes two weeks.”

Reporter

“Sir, but does it seem rational at this point…you have said that the post of Danini Contreras is temporary at this point, it hasn’t been regularized through the Ministry of the Public Service and yet, even before all that, before she is even confirmed, her signature is there. Once the Customs Department replies to you she will be able to sign Customs entries. Why the hurry to do that at this point?”

Peter Allen

“Well, the hurry is no longer there. The hurry was only because we had been told that Mrs. Sharon Anderson was unavailable…that she wasn’t there. So that is why there was a hurry to try and make somebody else available to sign, but that hurry is no longer there.”