Unregistered health products are easily available

Foreign supplements: Packets of remedies being sold by the road side in KL

PETALING JAYA: Besides foreign doctors illegally operating clinics in Malaysia, there are also no shortage of Malaysian vendors peddling unregistered local health products and supplements.

Unregistered products are not only available on the streets, but easily available online.

A check by The Star found that products unregistered with the Health Ministry can be bought online through sellers’ social media accounts.

Cala Plus, which is not registered as it is believed to contain ingredients such as dexamethasone, can be purchased from Malaysian sellers.

One seller claimed that the supplement can treat a host of conditions, such as tonsillitis, ringworm and urinary tract infection.

checks at several shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur found many vendors selling a range of products such as Cala Plus, Candy B+, MR and ATC Herbs, which the Health Ministry believes is mixed with drugs such as dexamethasone and taladafil.

Some products promise to reduce the consumers’ waistline or give them flawless skin while some were marketed as aphrodisiacs to boost the libido.

One vendor only known as Taty, claimed that all of her products were registered with the Health Ministry’s Drug Control Authority but the packages, which did not have a registration number or the MeditagTM hologram sticker, said otherwise.

Among the unregistered items include Tabita skin care products which are popular in South-East Asian countries but believed to contain mercury.

“Tabita is a best seller among my customers. I get my products from various suppliers and I sell them at affordable prices.

“All the products I carry are certified by the Health Ministry, otherwise we can’t sell them,” said the woman in her 40s.

Before using the products, consumers can run a quick check via http://npra.moh.gov.my/ to check whether they were registered with the Health Ministry and are safe to use.

The same can be done through the free mobile application MediQuest, available both on Google Play and App Store.