FDA to crack down on illegal pharmacies
Play
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will suspend the licenses of pharmacies that operate without an attending pharmacist and plans to amend a Public Health ministerial regulation to raise the quality and standard of drugstores.
The ministry has come under pressure to strictly implement the amended Drug Act to ensure all pharmacies have attending pharmacists, FDA chief Pipat Yingseri said yesterday, adding that the agency randomly checked drugstores regularly. Out of 498 places in Bangkok checked in the past nine months, 16 had no pharmacist, eight sold potentially dangerous medicines in the absence of a pharmacist and 48 had improper lists of medicine purchases.
Pipat said the FDA had also submitted to the Council of State a regulation amendment to elevate drugstores’ standards. The amendment included a provision to suspend the licences of law-breaking drugstores, and would create a database of places where pharmacists are available for consumers. Members of the public can report law-breaking drugstores to the FDA by calling 1556.
