Local pharmacies caught selling substandard, falsified drugs

The Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) has made shocking discoveries of substandard and falsified (SF) medicinal drugs stocked on the shelves of nine local pharmacies, which were being retailed to consumers across Georgetown and its environs.
The Department informed that 16 pharmacies were visited within the course of last Thursday and Friday, where the low quality drugs were unearthed. Among the findings were 17 boxes of ‘Chanca Piedra Phosmovite’, labelled with the manufacturer’s address as Mainland Labs, located in Canada. Its usage intended to treat kidney stones, and cleaning of the liver and urinary tract.
Meanwhile, 28 boxes of ‘Fungabort’ were discovered, claiming to serve as nail fungus treatment and also manufactured by Mainland Labs; while 23 packages of Phosferine were seized after the manufacturer, Phosferine Health Care Company, could not be verified. For this, all products were removed from the premises.
The GA-FDD positioned that pharmacies found with these questionable products could not provide receipts of purchase to the inspectors. As such, it was clearly a breach of the Consumer Affairs Act.
“This is a clear breach of the Consumer Affairs Act section 18: 1-3. It is also a breach of the Food and Drug’s Act, Part VI, Chapter 21 section (C and D), which speaks to adequate record keeping for traceability purposes particularly for the sale of medication for patient use,” the Food and Drug Department stated.
A strict warning was sent out to all drugstore outlets to desist from purchasing and retailing products from sources who cannot provide valid receipts or invoices. Generally, these acts are committed by ‘suitcase traders’ who walk and sell their goods.
“The Department is advising all pharmacies to, with immediate effect, desist from the practice of purchasing and retailing medication to be used by patients from walk-in-salesmen (suitcase traders) who refuse to provide invoices or adequate receipt or other records for traceability purposes. Inspectors will continue to seize and detain items with inaccurate addresses and where the identity of the wholesaler or distributor is unknown”.
To prevent such occurrences in the future, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was called in to investigate the matter. Complaints were filed that persons have been manufacturing or importing low quality medications, which are later introduced on the local markets.
In 2017, Government had announced that all drug suppliers would be mandated to register their drugs with the GA-FDD, in keeping with the new drug procurement systems.