Defective children's drug still on sale, warn pharmacists

Pharmacists' umbrella professional body has asked the national government to enforce withdrawal of Panadol syrup from chemists until the manufacturer rectifies its dosage.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya President Paul Mwaniki said in Mombasa on Friday that the defective Panadol for children was still being sold in some outlets despite being recalled by the manufacturer.

GlaxoSmithKline has recalled the drug following complaints over its paracetamol levels and the syringe used to administer it.

He said though there was no immediate risk to healthy children taking paracetamol, long-term continous use could cause liver complications.

"If Panadol syrup is taken by a child continuously for a period of time, it will affect the liver," said Dr Mwaniki .

He added, "Another issue is the dosage information contained in its packaging. The syringe used does not have decimals and a baby with 4.3 kg in most cases takes an overdose given he or she is given either a dose of 5 kg or more," said Dr Mwaniki.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Pharmacists want chemists selling prescription drugs to minors punished

He asked parents not to panic but insisted that the drug should be removed from the shelves.

Mwaniki further said the quality of medicines and health products can be highly compromised if regulations are not strictly enforced.

"This is a very urgent matter that must be addressed. Regulation and quality assurance must be enforced in both the private and public facilities, he said.

However, Mwaniki claimed that most public facilities cannot pass basic quality assessments as per the existing laws due to lack of qualified personnel and facilities.

He was addressing over 500 pharmacists at White Sands Hotel in Mombasa during the annual scientific conference.

At the same time, the pharmacists opposed an attempt by a parliamentary committee to revert health services to the National Government, saying devolution had taken services closer to Kenyans.

"We recognise there is some improvement in the public healthcare services in the counties in the last few months compared to the first year of devolution where healthcare in the counties was almost grounding to a halt," said Mwaniki.

Abuja declaration

The pharmacists, however, complained that budgetary allocation to healthcare was still very low at six per cent of the annual budget, which is still less than half of the 15 per cent that African governments pledged in the Abuja declaration.

They said many Kenyans were dying from treatable diseases because of lack of diagnostic equipment and inadequate workforce and called on county and national governments to urgently address the matter.

"The county governments must also use the locally collected funds in health. If this is done and managed efficiently, it will assure Kenyans of healthy livelihoods and thus enable them to grow the economy," he said.