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The Department of Health today (December 30) conducted an operation in Causeway Bay, resulting in the arrest of two persons for allegedly selling a Part I Third Schedule poison without prescription and without the supervision of a registered pharmacist.
Acting on information, staff of the DH's Pharmaceutical Service, posing as customers, bought a brand of post-coital contraceptive pills from a drug store in Causeway Bay without prescription. The proprietor and an employee were subsequently arrested by the Police for allegedly unlawful selling of Part I poison.
The two arrested persons were put on police bail of $4 000 each, pending further investigation.
A DH spokesman said the sale of pharmaceutical products classified as Third Schedule poison without prescription or selling a Part I poison without the supervision of a registered pharmacist are offences under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, (Cap. 138), and liable to a maximum penalty of $100 000 fine and two years' imprisonment.
䩕The department conducted a total of 6 154 inspections of pharmacies and medicine companies in the first 11 months of this year, resulting in 146 prosecutions for various offences,蒅 he said.
The spokesman reiterated that staff of the DH's Pharmaceutical Service will continue to carry out inspections and test purchase to ensure the relevant pharmaceutical legislation is strictly observed by the industry.
Ends/Friday, December 30, 2005
Issued at HKT 19:42
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