Medics w*rn against online sale of d***s
Pharmacists raised concern yesterday over the proliferation of illegal online chemists.
They also complained about the ease with which restricted medicines are becoming accessible.
“Medicines are being sold by unlicensed individuals (at bus stops and online), this should stop,” Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) President Dr Louis Machogu said in a statement.
PSK is particularly accusing Jumia Online traders of breaching sections of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board Act Chapter 244 which restricts the sale of medicines to a registered pharmacist.
Specifically, he condemned the sale of Augmentin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections.
High trend
Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) scientists recently revealed that Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), a situation where the body develops resistance to some drugs, is currently a major public health problem.
AMR arises when the bacteria become resistant to antibiotics because they were accessed and used inappropriately.
Dr John Mwaniki, a Medical Microbiologist at the Centre for Microbiology Research, KEMRI, said AMR is a growing problem.
“Most of the studies presented here today are showing that resistance to the commonly used drugs is on a high trend,” he said.
Even more worrying, he said, was that resistance had been reported in newly developed antibiotics.
Machogu warned that allowing everyone to sell medicine is to court a public health disaster.
“This should stop. The medicines are poisons in the wrong hands. And some of the antibiotics are too sensitive. For example, we could lose safe, effective, and affordable medicines like amoxicillin to antimicrobial resistance,” he noted.
PSK indicated in the statement that the prescription-only medicine popularly known as Augmentin, known scientifically as Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid, was being advertised and sold over the internet.
Meraky Healthcare Limited Director and Head of Commercial and Operations Dr Wairimu Mbogo said there is a need to discourage the online medicine trade and called for thorough regulation.
“The law is very clear that only licensed pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists can sell the medicines and there are rules and regulations within the practice,” she told People Daily.
