PUTRAJAYA: Stern action wait pharmaceutical companies which failed to notify the Health ministry on their supplement products said Health Minister Datuk Seri S Subramaniam.
His remarks came about in light of reports on the sale of fake supplements in the market.
He said supplement products are unlike registration for medical drugs which requires full registration in terms of type of drugs and the dosages.
Only then the ministry would approve the drug before it could be sold and consumed by the public he said.
“For supplement’s, the pharmaceutical company only to need to notify the ministry’s pharmacy division of the type of supplement and what is it for, before marketing the product.
“After being notified, the product will be given a label to indicate that the supplement was notified to the ministry,” he said today.
Dr Subramaniam fears that there are companies which are yet to notify about their supplements sold in the market.
He said the ministry would continue monitoring the situation and companies who failed to notify their products would be liable to face severe penalties.
Dr Subramaniam also clarified that the ministry had yet to get any reports on the sale fake supplements to the public.
He was speaking after attending the ministry’s Excellence Awards Ceremony (APC) presentation here.
A total of 780 officers and staff were honoured with the APC, with 381 receiving their awards.
Dr Subramaniam said the ministry has implemented 11 programmes and initiatives for the betterment of the healthcare industry in the country.
“One of the most prominent initiatives were the introduction of cluster hospitals in certain states such as Pahang, which saw specialist doctors being made available in district hospitals such as Temerloh and Kuala Lipis to reduce congestion of patients at general hospitals.
“The other is Enhanced Primary Health Care (EnPHC) where patients’ health records especially for their prevalence for non-communicable diseases (NCD) will be integrated into one system which could be accessed both the government and private healthcare providers.
“We had achieved so many milestones since 2013 and I hope and wish that we would be able to deliver greater healthcare programmes for the people in the future,” he added.