Thai health ministry to investigate ‘medicine mix-up
THAILAND – The Public Health Ministry will set up a panel to probe an alleged mistake that led to two medicines being put in the wrong packages and distributed to hospitals nationwide. Minister Pradith Sinthawanarong received a report that the Govern-ment Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) had put the two wrongly packaged medicines and distributed them to at least seven hospitals across the country.
The medicines were Isosorbide dinitrate, used to prevent chest pain caused by coronary artery disease; and Amlodipine for high blood pressure treatment.
Two hospitals are reported to have already prescribed medicines from the packages to patients. The lot number of the packages was “F561217 and has been distributed to hospitals nationwide since July.
“We found that only 100 tablets were put into the wrong packages. Moreover, there were no reports about abnormalities that had taken place with patients,” he said.
Pradith said he had asked the GPO to recall all packages of the two medicines from the hospitals, but an investigation was needed to find the facts behind the mistake.
He will appoint health experts and representatives from the GPO Labour Union as members of a fact-finding committee over this alleged mistake. Pradith accepted that the incident had affected the credibility of the GPO and its products. The GPO needed to boost public confidence toward its procedures and conduct the investigation into the alleged mistake with transparency.
Teerachai Kongiamtrakul, a director of Kanchanaburi’s Makarak Hospital, said he had ordered the hospital’s medical staff to stop prescribing the medicine from the packages to patients.
Previously, the hospital allegedly prescribed the medicines to 939 patients, most of who were elderly. Now over 20,000 tablets of these medicines had been recalled from the patients. “I ordered my staff to call all patients who received the packages and asked them to stop taking these drugs. It was suggested they get fresh medicine from the hospital,” he said.
The GPO will today hold a press conference to give details about the alleged mistake in the packing these two medicines.
Source: The Nation/Asia News Network
