Former Premier Ewart Brown will not be using his new healthcare company to import drugs to Bermuda from previously restricted countries, according to Cabinet Minister Zane DeSilva.Mr DeSilva told the House of Assembly there was no connection between Dr Brown incorporating Bermuda Healthcare Agency Ltd and a controversial order which came into effect on July 1 allowing prescription drugs to come here from India, Brazil and Israel.He said yesterday: “The assumption has been made and it is an incorrect assumption that Dr Brown is forming this company to import drugs from India and he couldn’t do this unless I added India to the list of designated countries. Nothing could be further from the truth.”The Minister said India, Brazil and Israel were added to the list of countries from which drugs can be imported to ensure cheaper, generic drugs were available in Bermuda.But he said following a meeting with pharmacists about the order on Wednesday it was decided to scrap the list of designated countries altogether and allow drugs to be imported here from anywhere in the world, so long as they are already eligible for importation and sale in the US, Canada, the UK or a European Union member state.Proposed legislation to that effect is likely to be tabled by him in the House next Friday, he added.The Minister made his statement after media coverage linked the prescription drugs controversy with a legal notice in the Bermuda Sun which revealed that Dr Brown, Government race consultant Rolfe Commissiong and Indian businessman Ven Subramanian were together launching a new healthcare business.Mr DeSilva told MPs the notice was brought to his attention on Wednesday afternoon. “I was not aware of that notice during my meeting with the pharmacists and it was not a topic of discussion,” he said.“Since the notice was published, the press and blogs have been trying to make a connection between my initiative to allow the importation of drugs from other countries and the incorporation of this company. I have known Dr Ewart Brown for many years and he is a good friend, as is Mr Rolfe Commissiong. But, as well as being friends, they are entrepreneurs and so am I.“However, I want to be very clear and I want the record to show that I am not involved in the incorporation of Bermuda Healthcare Agency Ltd. I am not a partner, I am not a shareholder, and neither is any family member of mine. This company has nothing to do with me and my actions as the Minister of Health have nothing to do with this company.”He went on: “I had told the pharmacists that I would be introducing legislation which would allow the importation of drugs from any country and I told them that before I even knew about the legal notice.”He said he’d since received e-mails from Dr Brown, a physician, which made clear that another of the former Premier’s companies, Bermuda Healthcare Services, already had the right to import drugs and had been bringing in pharmaceuticals from the US for ten years.Mr DeSilva said: “Dr Brown asked that I make it very clear that his company will continue to import drugs and that the importing company of record will be Bermuda Healthcare Services, not the new company that he is forming.”He concluded: “I hope this statement helps to explain what is planned and makes it clear that there is no relationship between me personally or me as the Minister of Health and Dr Brown’s new company.”After making his ministerial statement, Mr DeSilva fielded a succession of questions from the Opposition. United Bermuda Party MP Charlie Swan asked whether it was a conflict of interest for a former Premier and Cabinet staff member to form a company which could benefit from Government legislation, but Deputy Speaker Randy Horton would not accept the question phrased in that manner.Former Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson asked why Mr DeSilva was prepared to put the public at risk by not putting safeguards in place before drugs are imported from Brazil, India and Israel; Mr DeSilva replied the public was never at risk. In response to another question from Mrs Jackson, Mr DeSilva said the Pharmacy Council had been consulted over the move.Mrs Jackson asked if medication from Brazil, India and Israel had been imported already; Mr DeSilva said he didn’t know. She asked if Mr DeSilva knew whether over-the-counter drugs such as Aspirin will be imported; he replied he did not know.The One Bermuda Alliance MP then asked whether Mr DeSilva feels he’s not required to know about matters he’s responsible for. He replied: “I don’t know that’s a health question. That sounds like a plantation question to me.”Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons asked what savings would be made by allowing more generic drugs into Bermuda.Mr DeSilva replied: “All I can say is it’s going to be substantial and certainly going to show in the pockets of Mr and Mrs Bermuda when all said and done.”The Minister gave the example of one man who paid $500 for a brand name prescription when the generic equivalent would have cost just $40.Responding to another question from Dr Gibbons, Mr DeSilva said Bermuda would be safeguarded by following the same guidelines as the United States, UK, Canada and the European Union. Shadow Health Minister Kathy Michelmore posted an online message last night welcoming the Government’s decision to scrap the list of designated countries for prescription drug importation and allow drugs to be imported from anywhere in the world, subject to conditions.