Ministry: Buy medical products only from licensed outlets

PETALING JAYA: Medicines and supplements should only be bought from licensed and reputable premises, says the Health Ministry.

Its Pharmaceutical Services senior director Dr Ramli Zainal said this was to ensure that the products bought were authentic and were registered with the Drug Control Authority (DCA).

“The public is reminded to check on the labels of medicine as well as authenticity of registration to avoid consuming unregistered products which may harm their health.

“Products that are not registered with the DCA have not undergone important evaluations to ensure their quality, efficacy and safety,” Dr Ramli said when contacted.

He said consumption of products which contain ingredients that have not been studied or were banned could lead to disastrous consequences.

“Consumption of these products may lead to dangerous health consequences, including allergic reactions and side effects such as decreased kidney functions and even death.

“This is in addition to their obvious lack of efficacy due to having less or none of their actual active ingredients,” he said.

Products with anti-diabetic ingredients such as metformin, for example, should only be consumed under a doctor’s supervision, he said.

He cited Cala Plus, which was among the products seized by the ministry in March this year as being one of the products the public should be wary of.

“With reference to Cala Plus, not only is the product unregistered, it is also suspected to contain adulterated agents that are poisonous,” he said.

The public should contact the ministry’s Pharmacy Enforcement Division or state Pharmacy Enforcement branches should they encounter products that they were suspicious of, he said.

“A registered product with the DCA has two main features; a registration number which starts with ‘MAL’, followed by eight digits ending with the letter T, A, X or N (for example: MAL19976399X) and as an extra and improved measure, a genuine hologram security sticker which can be found on the product’s packaging.

“A device called MeditagTM decoder which is easily available in all licensed pharmacies can be used by consumers to verify the authenticity of Meditag hologram label on the pharmaceutical products purchased,” he said.