A Sha Tin retailer was raided by police and Department of Health officials after reports of illegal medicine sales.
A 20 year old employee of the shop was arrested after police discovered Part I poison and unregistered pharmaceutical products on sale in the store.
The joint operation followed a public complaint and officials subsequently found the store had been offering two types of unregistered analgesic patches labelled in Korean and which contain diclofenac. Preliminary investigation shows that no Hong Kong pharmaceutical product registration numbers were found on the product labels. An analgesic patch containing diclofenac is a Part I poison which should be sold in pharmacies under the supervision of a registered pharmacist.
The DH says its investigation is ongoing.
Diclofenac is used for the relief of pain and common side effects of using diclofenac-containing analgesic patches include itching and rash at the site of application.
According to the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Cap 138), all pharmaceutical products must be registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board before they can be sold legally in the market. Part I poisons should be sold at pharmacies under the supervision of registered pharmacists. Illegal sale or possession of unregistered pharmaceutical products and Part I poisons are criminal offences. The maximum penalty for each offence is a fine of $100,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
“Use of unregistered pharmaceutical products may pose health threats to people as the safety, efficacy and quality of these products are not guaranteed. Members of the public should not self-medicate without advice from healthcare professionals,” a spokesman for the DH explained.
“The DH strongly urges members of the public not to buy or use unregistered pharmaceutical products. All registered pharmaceutical products should carry a Hong Kong registration number on the package in the format of ‘HK-XXXXX’.”