Ban for selling bad drugs

Errant pharmacists found selling and importing unregistered drugs could very well be de-registered and in effect, banned, from practising by the Pharmacy Board, Chief Medical Officer Roshan Parasram warned yesterday.

Asked about the possible penalties for distributing potentially harmful drugs to an unsuspecting population, Parasram said the Ministry of Health, through the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division, was involved in educating both pharmacists and the public on what to do in situations where they receive unregistered pharmaceuticals.

He said the ministry would also work with Customs and Excise officers to intercept these drugs when they are imported. Since the drugs are an illegal import, he said, “We are unaware of it in any form or fashion. We (the Ministry of Health) are only aware of the drugs that come in legitimately and come in through our drug registration process.

“Our Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division and our pharmacists division will do inspections at public and private pharmacies to ensure if we pick up on unregistered drugs, we can get to the source of it.”

Any pharmacist found selling unregistered products, he said, is reported to the Pharmacy Board, which has regulations and can remove a pharmacist from the register and not allow him or her to practise.

Parasram was uncertain whether the ministry’s inspectors were finding large quantities of unregistered drugs, but said he suspected they were operating “beneath the radar” and avoiding detection by the authorities.

Recently, seven people went blind after being prescribed drugs which were later found to be banned in this country. Also, the ministry had to issue warnings last week about fake antibiotic drugs.