00:00The Health Ministry has been keeping an eye on pharmacies which have been
00:04breaching the Food and Drugs Act as it relates to the sale of unregistered
00:08products. The Ministry of Health has made 84 referrals of breaches and this would
00:15be for 84 pharmacies in breach of various provisions and contraventions
00:21including the sale of unregistered products under the Food and Drugs Act.
00:24And these are referred to whom? The TTPS. And has anybody been charged? Not to my
00:33knowledge. But the Pharmacy Board counters at the
00:36Parliamentary Committee meeting today there should also be clamping down on
00:41the sale of the weight loss drug Ozempic which scientists have been recently
00:45linking to severe side effects. A drug like Ozempic is making waves around the
00:52world. We see about its abuse where certain side effects are prominent and
00:59affecting public health at that level. And we see that in Trinidad and Tobago
01:04because it's not registered and it's not at the pharmacy where pharmacoviligence
01:09is being practiced it ends in the hands of persons not trained to
01:14administer or guide that process. And those institutions they are not under
01:19the purview of the Pharmacy Board Act. There's limited powers that I could see
01:23at this time to address those serious issues. The ministry says it is aware of
01:28the Instagram and TikTok advertisements and action is being taken. The ministry
01:33is aware and the ministry have taken steps meaning that in from the
01:37information that came to our attention has been submitted to the necessary
01:43enforcement agency through our legal unit. So it came up from chemistry food
01:48and drug division through legal to the necessary enforcement agency. That's the
01:53task force and as far as I am aware at this point in time it's an active case.
01:58There are active cases that I may not be able to say anything extra on it but yes
02:02there are investigative actions that are taking place at this point in time based
02:08on the information that has been pasted on social media. The irony the Pharmacy
02:13Board points out is that useful drugs like emergency can't be legally sold
02:17in TNT. I have had members of the board reporting to me that emergency was
02:22seized from the pharmacies by chemistry food and drugs division because it is
02:27not registered. So when you look at the law yes it is illegal to have it in the
02:30pharmacy for sale. But is the product itself injurious to public health? During
02:34COVID it was quite useful in fulfilling that demand for vitamin C's and another
02:40immune products. But the whole point is emergency is widely available in other
02:47regions for example the United States of America. President of the board Ricardo
02:51Mohammed says attention instead needs to be paid to what is sold by shops, mini
02:55marts and groceries under the OTC license. A mini mart or shopkeeper may
03:02not have an air-conditioned establishment required to store drugs
03:05under 30 degrees Celsius which is a requirement by most pharmaceuticals and
03:10we must now revise the condition of why are we still giving shopkeepers
03:16licenses to carry these things when there are so many pharmacies throughout
03:21the country that can supply. We have to be very mindful as well that shopkeepers
03:26are stocking anti-histamine based cough medicines, panadol, multi-symptom, drowsy
03:33to be exact when the OTC license prevents them from stocking that.
03:37Ravishi Tamwari, Rupnirain, TV6 News
