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Groceries selling drugs illegally

The issue came to the forefront when recently the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Department of Dubai Customs, jointly with MoH confiscated significant quantities of counterfeit medicine including the commonly used drug Panadol that can be bought without a prescription.

Because counterfeit drugs are really difficult to distinguish from the real ones, it is the end-users who suffer the consequences.

Dr Issa bin Jakka Al Mansouri, Director of the Department of Drug Control, UAE Ministry of Health said that medicines that needed no prescription — including Panadol — had been banned from being sold in groceries by the MoH because there were increased chances of the product being fake.

"Buying commonly administered medicines, such as Panadol and even certain ointments from groceries is the easiest because you do not need any prescription. Besides, they are also cheaper as grocers have a lesser margin of profit. This increases the chances of the product being fake," he said.

Raising awareness among people so that they are able to distinguish between a "real" and "fake" is the main challenge that the MoH faces. "Everybody is well-aware of common, "household" drugs, therefore, before the product is bought, the label and price should be scanned carefully so as to make sure that the product is not fake," he said.

Dr Al Mansouri explained that the practice of buying medicines without prescriptions was also wrong. "People do not ask for an invoice after they buy a product which is harmful," he added.

To avoid buying fake products, people should notice the difference in price tags, see packaging differences and also read leaflets thoroughly. "Some pharmacies might be selling fake products but that is rare because MoH inspectors make frequent visits to check prices and the products," added Dr Al Mansouri.

Counterfeit drugs lack adequate quantities of the active ingredient which means that sick people might not be getting the required amount of medicine. The counterfeits might also contain substances that are actually harmful. Besides, it also means that genuine and branded drugs are now useless. If they contain less of the active ingredient, they may instead become inoculators to the virus, bacteria or the parasite they are supposed to destroy.

A review by the World Health Organisation (WHO) titled "Global trade in counterfeit drugs," found that 60 per cent of fake drugs had no active ingredients, 16 per cent had the incorrect ingredients and 17 per cent had the incorrect amount.

According to the statistics released by Dubai Customs, injected medicines, including beauty products such as Botox and steroids, account for the bulk of counterfeit medicines seized in 2005 at 38 per cent. Assorted medicaments come next at 23 per cent, followed by Viagra tablets, herbal medicines, medicinal stickers, and medicines for the treatment of Aids.

About 41 per cent of counterfeit drugs seized in 2005 came from the Far East, while 35 per cent came from North Asia. The Middle East, Africa and Europe regions accounted for eight per cent each.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), counterfeit medicines are part of the broader phenomenon of substandard pharmaceuticals. The difference is that they are deliberately and fraudulently mis-labelled with respect to identity and/or source.

Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit medicines may include products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging, with the wrong ingredients (some of which may be toxic), without active ingredients or with insufficient active ingredients.

In wealthier countries, the most frequently counterfeited medicines recently have been cholesterol lowering medicines, drugs used for treatment of growth hormone deficiency and for cancer.

In developing countries the most counterfeited medicines are those used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids. Antibiotics are also often found among counterfeit medicines.

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