Ky Son: Selling drugs and prescribing without a license

(Baonghean.vn) - Currently, the situation of selling and buying medicine without a doctor's prescription is very common in pharmacies in the border district of Ky Son. Even pharmacies and drug stores without a business license to sell this type of product are still freely practicing, especially at border markets and remote areas in the district.

Most of the pharmaceutical businesses in the border district of Ky Son still sell medicine to normal patients without prescription.

For many years now, at the markets in remote and border areas in the border district of Ky Son, there have been many people selling Western medicine, but the owners of the pharmacies have not been equipped with formal knowledge of pharmacy. Whenever there is a need, people only need to state the symptoms, the seller will prescribe and sell the medicine.

Mr. Lau Ba Tong, Nam Khien 1 village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, said that every time he has to go to the district town, the first thing he has to do is find and buy some medicine to treat himself. "Just tell them the illness and they (the pharmacy owner - PV) will prescribe the medicine for you right away. As for the price, I don't know if it's expensive or cheap, it depends on how the store sells it, so I just pay that much."

This pharmacy sells drugs without prescription.

Mr. Lo Van Ot - the owner of a pharmacy at the market in Huoi Tu commune, Ky Son confessed that he has an intermediate medical degree but still opened a pharmacy and did basic medical examinations to sell medicine: "People are familiar with the medicine, and if it suits them, they just get it for them. We rarely sell prescriptions, but they are all prescriptions from a long time ago, sometimes there are one or two prescriptions from the hospital or the station. I examine them, if they have a disease that I can roughly diagnose, I prescribe and dispense medicine for them."

Not only in remote areas but also in the center of the district, there are many pharmacies and drug stores that do not have price lists, the origin of the drugs is not inspected and appraised... Even every member of the owner's family can sell drugs. Meanwhile, the regulations of the medical and pharmaceutical industry are: each facility selling drugs must have a pharmacist, or a mid-level pharmacist who is an agent for a pharmaceutical company, directly in charge.

Mr. Lo Van Ot, owner of a medicine kiosk at the market in Huoi Tu commune, Ky Son, talks with reporters.

It is known that sometimes the province's interdisciplinary inspection team comes to inspect, but then everything goes back to normal. Perhaps the inspection, control and handling are not thorough and strict, which has made organizations and individuals in the pharmaceutical business "indifferent", calmly continuing to trade without permission. Even grocery businesses arbitrarily sell additional medicines. According to statistics from the Ky Son District Health Department, in the district, there are only 9 drug businesses with business licenses, the rest are mostly businesses and drug kiosks in remote, isolated and border communes run by people spontaneously.

Pharmaceutical business establishments are springing up everywhere in remote communes of the district, most of these establishments do not have business licenses or any documents related to the products. (Photo of an illegal business establishment in Huoi Tu commune)

Mr. Lo Van Vieng, Deputy Head of the Health Department of Ky Son District, shared: Ky Son is a border district with a large area, so the level of state management of private medical practice in the area is difficult. The health department has few human resources, only by coordinating with other departments can we inspect the entire area. The situation of illegal drug stores and pharmacies in the district is still happening, especially in remote areas.

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