Govt steps in on investigation after public hospital drug resold on HKTVmall

The Department of Health said on Wednesday it will investigate along the line of illegal sale of unregistered pharmaceutical products after a merchant of local e-commerce platform HKTVmall was suspected of selling laxatives that allegedly came from a public hospital pharmacy prescribed to a patient.

The SAR government yesterday expressed grave concern over the incident and said it is liaising with the Hospital Authority to seriously investigate the alleged case and shall take prompt enforcement action as appropriate.

It is understood that the pharmaceutical product involved in the incident, Lactulose, does not contain any substance listed in the Poisons List of the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations and is a type of "non-poison" medicine that does not require a prescription nor under the supervision of a pharmacist for sale.

A government spokesman said should the Department of Health detect any suspected illegal sale or possession of pharmaceutical products, it will promptly investigate, and, if necessary, conduct joint operations with other law enforcement agencies, and any irregularities so found will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

In the past five years between 2020 to June 2024, the Drug Office of the department handled 209 conviction cases involving the illegal sale or possession of unregistered pharmaceutical products or Part 1 poisons, with the highest penalty being imprisonment of 10 months or a fine of up to HK$100,000.

Read more: Public hospital drug resold on HKTVmall