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Pharmacists to be fined for lapses in drug tag rules

ABU DHABI — The Ministry of Health has warned public that prescription medicine packets which do not carry the distributor sticker are probably fake and could cause fatality.

Stringent penalties will be effected against the pharmacists and the pharmacy owners according to the severity of the consequences, said a senior health official.

Most of the medicines that do not have a tag that define the distributor and the price, are either counterfeit or expired, warned Dr Issa bin Jakha Al Mansouri, director of the Drug Control Department (DCD) at the Ministry of Health. “There is a very high chance that these pharmaceutical products are either fake or illegal. They might probably be contraband, outdated or even stolen. In any case they might be harmful and could have fatal complications,” the official cautioned. He said teams from the ministry conduct inspection visits to private pharmacies to detect violations.

The official pointed out that these inspection visits carried out by specialised teams from the ministry have revealed that some pharmacies indugle in this malpractice. Some outlets sell free sample as medicines. About the penalties, Dr Mansouri said the ministry might revoke the licence of the pharmacist and close down the pharmacy, noting the punishment ranges in accordance to the severity of consequences resulting from selling fake products.

Private pharmacies should abide by the pharmacy laws and regulations enforced in the country, he stressed.