Suva based pharmacy caught selling expired medication

A pharmacy in Suva has been caught selling expired over-the-counter medication.

Consumer Council of Fiji Chief Executive Officer, Seema Shandil says the consumer made this discovery when he checked the product’s expiry date after consuming the medication.

The medication which had already expired in September, 2021 was sold on the 4th of this month.

Shandil says a prompt investigation was conducted and appropriate compensation was made to the consumer by the pharmacy.

She says the Council also discovered the pharmacy did not specify the name of the medication on the receipt and the medication was listed as “refill”.

Shandil says while the Council warned the pharmacy, the severity of the case triggered an intensive surveillance of all major pharmacies around the country.

The result revealed that 29% of the pharmacies in the Central Division were not listing the name of over-the-counter medications in the receipts. All the pharmacies surveyed in the Western and Northern Division are specifying the name of the medications in the receipts.

Shandil adds by failing to specify the name or itemizing over-the-counter medications in the receipts, pharmacies are infringing on consumers right to redress and the right to be informed.

The CEO of the Consumer Council of Fiji further says this means if consumers are sold expired or wrong medications and go back to the pharmacy for redress, pharmacies can simply say the medications were not sold by them. Shandil says this is a worrisome practice.