The retractable syringe adventure was set in motion by former federal Health Minister Michael Wooldridge before he resigned from federal parliament in September, 2001.
After aggressive lobbying from syringe manufacturers, in July, 2000, the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy set up a sub-committee to develop an options paper and cost benefits analysis on retractable syringes. As federal health minister, Wooldridge would have been present at the meeting and if not, he would have been privy to the discussions that took place around these syringes.
Wooldridge has a history of corrupt behaviour. His antecedence shows at least two scandals out of which he managed to wiggle his way unscathed. (52)
Wooldridge left the big house under a cloud, after revelations that just before resigning, he had promised $5 million to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. He was promptly employed as a consultant with the college. Before that was the controversial MRI scandal that blew up in his face in October 1999, in which he was accused of divulging sensitive budgetary information to radiologists over dinner. He escaped both embarrassments, but the public attention and aroma of corruption became too much for the GPs who were forced to terminate his contract in July 2002. (53,54)
At least seven Australian companies stand to make a killing from the introduction of retractables. For them, the Wooldridge Trial is the backdoor to distribution across the board, and not just into NSPs. Unitract, Analytica, Medigard, Ensi-Med, Occupational Medical Innovations, Eastland Medical Systems and Ritract are just some of the companies who are trying to break into the market. (26, 55, 56,57,58,59,60)
The government had assured stakeholders that the initiative would only be advertised within Australia to ensure that an Australian company would successfully tender for the trial. (61)
Our sources indicate that only one Australian company responded to the request for information for the Wooldridge Trial - OMI. Others included Texas-based Retractable Technologies Inc, with its Vanishpoint syringe, and Lucra Trading (Securegard). At time of publishing, it is believed that the US manufactured Vanishpoint had won favour.
Perusal of the companies' websites reveals certain striking similarities. But one company, Ritract, stands out for the fact that it has a former federal health minister on its team - the architect of the retractable trial, Michael Wooldridge. The company also aims to buy out other retractable syringe patents, so it is very useful to have Wooldridge, with access to privileged information, on their team. (62)
Wooldridge timed his resignation perfectly, setting up a buffer between the date he finished as health minister and the date of commencement of the pilots. He has done spectacularly well to keep his relationship with the company quiet. The Australian is playing along with the appalling charade, with at least two of its scribes conveniently neglecting to mention that Wooldridge is on the Ritract take.
Three days after an advertorial by her co-staffer, James Dunne, the Oz's Helen Matterson beefed up the snow-job with a 13-paragraph piece that included a plug in the heading: "RiTract early jab gets judge's points in contest". (63)
The Ritract prospectus says it all: "From 1996 to 2001 he (Wooldridge) was a member of the Cabinet Budget Committee (Expenditure Review) and thus played an integral part in federal budget allocations not only in the health sector but across all sectors of the Australian government." (62)
And further: "Through his supervision of the Health Insurance Commission, Dr Wooldridge had overall responsibility for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and for the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia.”
The Australian's pair of news hounds also failed to mention that Wooldridge was appointed by health minister Tony Abbott as the chair of the new Ministerial Advisory Council on AIDS, Sexual Health and Hepatitis (MACASHH), which had its first meeting in March this year. This means that Wooldridge will still have his finger on the pulse and be able to steer Ritract toward financial success. (64,65)
No mention that he also served as the chair for the World Health Organisation’s East Asia and Western Pacific Region and was also Global Chairman of UN AIDS, the peak UN body dealing with HIV. (66)
The fact that Wooldridge continued to access his parliamentary email account until March 2002 was also ignored. For four months Wooldridge had access to information that he should not have been privy to. (65)
It's no surprise that Ritract's is the second Australian syringe to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for distribution locally. As managing director Rupert Northcott told Helen Matterson: "We have managed to accelerate our development to overtake other competitors in the syringe market,” (62)
The 1984 Readers Digest Great Illustrated Dictionary defines corrupt as: "1. Immoral; perverted; depraved. 2. Marked by or guilty of venality and dishonesty, especially bribery.” A strong case has been made out for official corruption - a charge that Wooldridge and some current cabinet members should forced to answer. (6)
The least the HR sector could do is demand Wooldridge be sacked from MACASHH, and that he and those MPs who have aided and abetted him, such as Patterson, Abbott and Howard, be arrested and put on trial.
As a footnote, there are similarities between the Wooldridge retractable trial and the MRI scam of 1998. In both scams he escaped any criminal charges. Both scams also relate to medical technologies that Wooldridge has a financial interest in; the retractable syringe via Ritract and magnetic resonance imaging. Wooldridge was elected chairman of MRI technology company Resonance Health Limited in October 2003. (66)
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