Prevent fake medicines from reaching patients

The poor-quality drugs increasingly finding their way into hospitals and pharmacies pose a grave danger to desperate patients. When they take medications that fail to heal them, this erodes public confidence in healthcare professionals, hospitals, and regulatory frameworks. 

While the Pharmacy and Poisons Board recorded 45 drug recalls last year, the Health officials have tried to downplay the impact, arguing that the increase does not necessarily signal worsening medicine quality.

The Health authorities believe that improved post-market surveillance, which is, indeed, a good thing, may be uncovering defects that previously went undetected. However, that should not be a consolation, as the people deserve the very best care and quality medicines.

The PPB has so far this year issued 16 recalls of medical products, continuing an upward trend in market withdrawals in the past six years. But the Health ministry has ruled out a collapse in oversight. This raises the question as to why defective or non-compliant medicines continue to reach hospital shelves and pharmacy counters without being detected.

Toxic remedies

Substandard and falsified (SF) medical products present a major global health crisis, particularly in the developing economies where one in 10 medicines is likely to be of poor quality. 

An examination of the supply chain points to vulnerabilities at various stages from manufacturing and importation to storage, surveillance and reporting. The products recalled this year include surgical and emergency medicines, antibiotics and asthma inhalers, with imports accounting for a significant share.

Patients must be protected from potentially toxic remedies, but they should also avoid open-air markets, street vendors and unauthorised stores.

They should only buy medications from licensed facilities staffed by qualified pharmacists. Let them check the medicines for compromised security seals, alterations to expiry dates, or printing defects on packages.

While improved surveillance and more effective detection are crucial, the authorities must step up efforts to ensure that only clean medicines reach the hospitals and are properly administered to patients.