Public hospitals bought millions of units of analgesic and fever-reducing drugs from the mainland during the peak of the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, a public hospital medical worker said.
This came after a netizen published a post on
Facebook Monday in which she said her friend was prescribed mainland-made painkillers and stomach drugs after seeing the doctor at Queen Mary Hospital.
The netizen also claimed: “There will be no more Hong Kong-made Panadol in the future,” and attached a photo of boxes of drugs, with simplified Chinese characters of the word ‘Paracetamol’, a painkiller, written on the package.
A public hospital healthcare worker revealed that the mainland-made drugs were bought in the millions at the pandemic’s peak, as the demand for the medications was extremely high at that time.
It was understood that the drugs only recently arrived, so many hospitals have prescribed these bulk-bought drugs to patients.
The medical worker said they were expected to switch back to previous medications after these drugs were used up, whereas it was unknown whether they would be ordered from the mainland again in the future.
William Chui Chun-ming, President of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong, said it was reasonable for the government to import drugs to meet demand.
He believed that the Department of Health would gatekeep the safety and effectiveness of drugs, and citizens did not need to be too worried.
He continued that although public hospitals generally use overseas drugs, some antibiotics have been manufactured by mainland companies in the past 20 years, and some “brand name” drugs were also produced on the mainland.
He added that some of the drugs after patents expired, although, with different packaging, they were the same in efficacy. Citizens could consult professionals if in doubt.
He added that some of the medications were produced in the mainland after their original patents expired, and while they came in different packaging, they were equally effective. Concerned citizens can consult their medical professional if in doh t about the drugs administered to them.
The Hospital Authority replied on Tuesday that under exceptional circumstances or when there are unanticipated medication supply problems, the authority may need to import drugs from different regions outside the procurement contract, stressing that the medicines will be introduced only after obtaining permission from the relevant government departments.