PETALING JAYA: Social media users were up in arms today over a shop in Forest City, Johor, which was found selling prescription-only medicine without requiring authorisation from medical practitioners.
X user @fiholicMD said he had come across an antibiotic called azithromycin which was being openly sold for RM15.
“For those that miss the point of this picture, azithromycin is an antibiotic that requires a prescription. You can’t sell it openly, even in legitimate pharmacies,” he said on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“This medication is highly likely not registered with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).”
He added that the drug had been sold not at a pharmacy, but at a grocery shop in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Checks of the NPRA website found no record of the dispersible tablets manufactured by Sichuan Medco Pharmaceutical Stock Co Ltd in its system.
Azithromycin is an antibiotic that treats various bacterial infections, including those affecting the respiratory system, skin, ears, eyes, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Another X user cautioned against the abuse of antibiotics, saying it takes time to restore gut health.
“It kills all the good bacteria, too… consuming probiotics to fix the gut can only do so much.”
Another user asked how this could be happening given the recent raid on online sales.
“@KKMPutrajaya wasn’t there a raid on online sales recently? And Forest City can still do this?”
On Wednesday, Bernama reported that authorities had blocked access to 1,675 websites selling illegal pharmaceutical products and confiscated various products worth more than RM500,000 through Operation Pangea XVI, conducted nationwide from Oct 3 to 10.
Norhaliza A Halim, senior director of the health ministry’s pharmacy services, said 76% of the websites found to be selling illegal pharmaceutical products were doing so through e-commerce platforms.
Meanwhile, health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad responded to the matter after another netizen tagged him in a separate post.
“This is extremely terrible… AMR (antimicrobial resistance)! Pharmacy division has to take more aggressive measures promptly,” he said. - FMT
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