MP: Probe illegal sale of drugs

By MICHAEL PHILIP
THE Health Department needs to immediately look into the sale of medicines on the streets, former health minister and Pomio MP Elias Kapavore says.
Sharing a picture of medicines displayed on a table alongside betel nut and smoke on his Facebook account, Kapavore raised concern that medical products were being sold openly on the streets and in unauthorised shops.
He said the pharmaceutical services standard branch of the Health Department provided oversight on the registration of medicinal products, compliance, licensing, inspections, quality and control.
He said seeing medicines sold on the streets begged the question of what the authorities were doing.
“There is also the Medicines and Cosmetics Registration Act 2002 that establishes the drug regulatory authority and inspections and issuing of licenses,” he said.
“The act regulates the medicinal products sold in pharmacies and those distributed through the public health system.”
Kapavore said it was risky taking drugs without a doctor’s prescription or ones that were not cleared by the proper regulating bodies.
Attempts to get comments from the Health Department yesterday on if it was aware of the sale of medicines on streets and if it was investigating how these medicines ended up on the streets was unsuccessful.
According to a statement released by Health secretary Dr Osborne Liko last month, the Pharmacy Board and Pharmaceutical Regulatory Standards Licensing Authority maintained standards and regulated pharmaceutical companies operating in the country and this included inspections, licensing and testing of medicines and products brought into the country.
He said the Medicine and Cosmetic Act 1999, mandated the secretary to be the chair of Pharmacy Board and Pharmaceutical Regulatory Standards Licensing Authority.