Public urged to use medicine carefully to avoid poisoning
Updated at 7.08pm: People should be extremely careful when taking western medicines - as they could be very dangerous if taken incorrectly or in excess, Deputy-Director of Health Leung Ting Hung warned on Friday.
Western medicines accounted for 591 of the 995 poisoning cases reported to public hospitals in the second half of 2005, latest statistics showed.
'The most common poisoning agents in medicine poisoning cases reported to six of the public hospitals were sleeping pills (31 per cent), followed by pain killers (14 per cent), antidepressants (12 per cent) as well as flu and cold medication (10 per cent),' Dr Leung said.
Another 122 cases (12 per cent) were caused by multiple agents including western medicines and household products such as bleach and insecticide.
'Insect stings and bites, household products, environmental chemicals and Chinese medicines accounted for 105 [11 per cent], 64 [six per cent], 52 [three per cent] and 33 [three per cent] of the 995 cases respectively,' Dr Leung added.
Noting that 54 per cent of the cases were suicidal in nature while another 20 per cent were due to accidents and nine per cent were related to recreational activities, Dr Leung suggests people be extremely careful when using medicine.
'One should take the exact amount of medicine according to a doctor's instruction; do not take more than one kind of medication at a time to avoid harmful drug interaction and immediately seek medical consultation when feeling unwell,' Dr Leung added.
He called on people to observe the following measures to avoid medicine poisoning:
- Take the exact amount of medicine according to a doctor's instruction;
- Always keeps medication in a cabinet with a lock. Discard all leftover or expired medicines;
- Read the medicine's label and instructions carefully if the medicines were bought over-the-counter. Take note of the dosage, ingredients, indications, warnings, and side effects;
- Do not take other people's medicine or excessive doses;
- Do not take more than one kind of medication unless a doctor advises it;
- Do not take medicines in the dark. Do not store medicine in any containers for food or designated for other medicine;
- Do not put different kinds of drugs in one bottle;
- Do not refer to medicine as 'candy' when giving it to children.