(Trinidad Express) Twenty-four pharmacies are under police probe for selling unregistered, fake or expired drugs.
This disclosure was made by Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram as he responded to a question from Committee Member Dr Lackram Bodoe at yesterday’s Public Administration and Appropriation Committee (PAAC) meeting, which conducted an enquiry into the adequacy of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical supplies by the Ministry of Health.
The committee was also told that the popular diet and diabetic drug Ozempic was not registered for use in Trinidad and Tobago.
“An applicant has to make an application for a drug to be registered and the Ministry of Health processes the application…. We don’t have an application in (for Ozempic) right now,” permanent secretary Asif Ali said.
He said 23 drugs were currently awaiting registration.
Parasram said that over the period February 2023 to April 2024, the Ministry of Health inspected 280 pharmacies and found 45 pharmacies had either unregistered or expired products, which were seized, and 24 of these pharmacies had been referred to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Parasram said just under 20,000 drugs were registered for use in the country.
He said the illegal drugs—those that are unregistered or expired and are being offered for sale, and those that are falsified (fake)—pose a great threat to public health and safety, and the inspectorates of the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division and Principal Pharmacist Office had begun to do a lot of good work and deserved commendation.
“Post their inspections, we have seen a reduction in the number of expired and unregistered products, even when they revisit the same pharmacies. So we are seeing some direct impact. And of course, as it goes through the process of investigation, we hope that we will see some fruit (being borne) in terms of prosecutions going forward,” he said.
Bodoe said fake drugs coming primarily through the suitcase trade was one of the big challenges people faced.
“How do they (the public) know that the drug that is dispensed in the pharmacy is genuine? It is a nightmare,” he said.
Bodoe also asked about illegal synthetic drugs such as ecstasy and fentanyl, and other such drugs that are now on the streets and in the hands of the population, and what mechanisms were in place to detect their presence.
Principal pharmacist Anesa Doodnath-Siboo said once such an item is discovered, there is technical co-operation between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Security, and the relevant amendments are made to the respective legislation so that the items can be properly classified.
Legal adviser, Ministry of Health, Mala Kowlessar-Tagallie said the inspectors had the power of entry and seizure where there is reasonable suspicion that there is a breach of the law.
The committee was told there are approximately 526 pharmacies in Trinidad and Tobago, and 231 pharmacies are authorised to dispense CDAP (Chronic Disease Assistance Programme) drugs.
Only one pharmacy in Tobago is authorised to dispense CDAP drugs. There are currently 46 pharmacies in the process of being authorised to dispense CDAP, but none of them is located in Tobago, the PAAC was told.
The administrative cost associated with CDAP was $24 million annually. The committee was also told that one of the challenges for suppliers of drugs was access to foreign exchange.
Bodoe said one of the complaints from pharmacy owners is that sometimes they receive CDAP drugs which are close to their expiration dates and ended up with expired stock.
Nipdec (National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd) chairman Nigel Romano said the benchmark for the supply of such drugs was at least 18 months from the expiry date.
Romano said the value of expired drugs in any given year is less than 1%—between 0.6% and 0.8%—of the total purchase of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals by Nipdec.
