NMRA to act strict on pharmacists selling drugs sans prescription

• Suspected pharmacists have sold antibiotic drugs without  prescription

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana  

The National Medical Regulatory Authority (NMRA) will act strictly on the instances of selling medicines sans prescription, when a growing trend of issuing antibiotic drugs without doctor’s advice has been evident since recently.   

A senior official of the NMRA’s Inspectorate and Enforcement Division told the Daily Mirror that the authorities have made six separate raids in the Kurunegala District in the past two days and nabbed law breakers.   

The Food and Drug Inspectors of the NMRA on information conducted the raids in Mahawa, Kurunegala and Nikaweratiya areas and apprehended six employees working for six private pharmacies.   

According to the official, in every instance the suspected pharmacists have sold antibiotic drugs without the prescription and it was a drug namely ‘Cloxacillin’. The particular drug is usually prescribed for lung infections as well as to heal wounds, he said.   

The senior official said a grave situation is being developed worldwide where the people are getting excessively accustomed to antibiotic drugs and as a result antibiotic resistant bacteria will be formed in the human body.   

“This situation will make the human body not respond to antibiotics in the future and the medical experts have found that popular drugs like amoxicillin are not very effective anymore. The haphazard way of selling drugs to the public has created this situation,” the official said.   

The six suspects were released on Rs.100, 000 bail bond each and had been ordered to appear in respective Magistrate Courts in Nikaweratiya and Mahawa in the coming weeks.