KUALA LUMPUR – The Pharmacy Enforcement Division of the Health Ministry raided 1,332 premises selling unregistered health products and seized items valued at RM23,956,851 throughout 2021 until January 31 this year.
According to a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat today, the ministry said that the continuous raids on premises or sellers were based on internal monitoring and verification of complaints received from the public.
“Companies or individuals found to own or sell unregistered health products will be investigated and prosecuted in court under the Sale of Drugs Act 1952,” said the in response to a question from Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (Dungun-PAS) who wanted to know if the ministry monitored the sale of medicines online as there are still many dangerous and unregistered products widely advertised.
The ministry also said that the Pharmacy Enforcement Division had also increased monitoring and enforcement against the advertising and sale of unregistered drugs online.
Since 2020, online platform companies have been instructed to block any unregistered drug products and a total of 8,145 advertisements of unregistered products have been ordered to be taken down on domestic e-commerce platforms throughout 2021.
“The Pharmacy Enforcement Division is also involved in international operations and activities focusing on websites and social media channels offering dangerous drugs such as the Pangea Operation, ‘Energia’ Project and the provision of the Toolkit to Combat Illegal Internet Medical Product Sales.
“Similarly, cooperation with Interpol and other enforcement agencies in and outside the country are also held regularly to ensure that medications sold online cannot be brought into Malaysia,” the ministry said. – Bernama, March 3, 2022
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