Doctors abuse risky diet pill, say pharmacists

Local pharmacists have criticised private doctors for abusing the dangerous slimming drug phentermine - consumed by 6,000 to 10,000 people a day in Hong Kong - after the South China Morning Post reported that some were recklessly prescribing slimming drugs.

A female Post reporter with a body mass index (BMI) of 20 was prescribed various slimming drugs by three private doctors. According to the World Health Organisation, the optimal BMI is between 18.5 and 25.

A recent study commissioned by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong found private doctors prescribed more than 2.7 million phentermine pills last year - 99.7 per cent of the total local consumption.

About 2.85 times more phentermine pills are consumed in Hong Kong than the newer but safer slimming drug sibutramine, because it is cheaper and works more efficiently.

The study followed a report by the UN International Narcotics Control Board in March that pinpointed Hong Kong as the sixth-largest user of anorectics - substances that suppress appetite - and urged the government to strengthen regulation.

Phentermine, launched in 1959, can reduce people's weight by an average of 3.6kg in six months, but can cause side effects such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, insomnia and long-term heart disease.