LABELLING OF MEDICINES (Action for non-compliance)

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked the Acting Minister for Health, since the implementation of compulsory labelling of medicine, whether there have been cases of non-compliance and what actions have been taken by his Ministry against such cases.

The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Sir, under the Medicines (Labelling) Regulations 1986, all medicines dispensed to the patients must be labelled with the following details:

• the name of the patient.

• name and address of the clinic.

• date of dispensing.

• directions for use.

• name and strength of the medicine.

• if a generic name is used, the quantity of the active ingredient must also be included.

In addition for medicines sold over the counter, expiry dates are required for products which deteriorate on storage. Examples of this type of products are antibiotics, vaccines and vitamins.

Survey of labelling of dispensed medicines carried out in 1985 and 1986 showed that about one in 5 clinics had labels with minor non-compliances. The non-compliances were the omission of the strength of the medicine, the date of dispensing, the name and address of the clinic in which the medicine was dispensed.

These errors have been drawn to the attention of the clinics concerned. Subsequent checks on them revealed that they have been rectified.

With regard to the expiry dating of products, random checks at the time of drug registration revealed that there is full compliance.