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Amy Nip

Pharmacies selling fake products would be named and shamed, the Consumer Council said yesterday as it identified 18 pharmacies caught selling counterfeit drugs. 
In its monthly magazine Choice, the watchdog published the results of 19 cases concerning the sale of counterfeit drugs over the past year, involving 18 shops. 
The dispensaries sold drugs with forged trademarks or whose ingredients were inconsistent with their labelling. One of them was on Hong Kong Island, eight in Kowloon and nine in the New Territories.
'No harmful substances were found in the counterfeit drugs and there were no reports of people falling ill,' customs superintendent Thomas Lin Shun-yin  said. 'But some of their ingredients varied from what was claimed on the packaging. If people took them, it could have hampered their medical treatment.' 
Of the named shops, 12 are still operating. Six closed or changed their names: Ka Wo Dispensary in Yau Ma Tei, Honest Dispensary in Sham Shui Po, Top Good Dispensary in Jordan and three Lung Fung Dispensary outlets in Fanling and Tai Po. 
Lin said customs had checked the people running the companies breaking the law and would continue to check on them. 'We are not worried about them changing their names,' he said. 'We will continue taking action.' 
Various drugs were involved in the fraudulent practice, including libido booster Viagra, medicinal oils Wong To Yick Wood Lock  and Tiger Balm, human albumin  products, digestive drugs and pain suppressors. 
Counterfeit products were not cheap; they were usually sold as genuine products at a slight discount of about 10 per cent, Lin said. 
The packaging of counterfeit drugs kept changing and they could appear different in various cases, he said. If consumers had any doubts about medicines they bought, they should stop taking them immediately and report the case to customs. 
Since 2007, customs had checked 510 drug stores selling Western drugs and found 28 to have counterfeit products on their shelves. A total of 3,692 pills were confiscated and 63 people were arrested. 
Last year, customs found about 730 cases of counterfeit products, about 3 per cent involving drugs. 
As a deterrent to law breakers and to step up consumer awareness, all future convictions would be published on the Consumer Council's website, Lin said. 
Council chief executive Connie Lau Yin-hing  said visitors would also be made aware of the problem and identical information would appear on the watchdog's website aimed at mainland tourists. 
One of the owners of King Sun Dispensary in Tai Po has served two short prison terms for selling counterfeit drugs. 
A staff member at the drugstore said the person who bought the drugs was fired, and the store no longer sold the brands whose trademarks were forged. 'We welcome the council's naming policy,' he said. 'We know we will be affected, but I hope what's past is past.' 
The Lung Fung Dispensary has been replaced by the Tai Fung Dispensary at the same location in Tai Po. Staff said they had a new boss and had no idea about the counterfeits. However, their stores receipts still bear the old name 'Lung Fung'. 
Locals know what they will do about ensuring drug safety. One man, who has lived in the neighbourhood for five decades, said he would play it safe and buy from other dispensaries in the district.




18 pharmacies selling fake products named