A business establishment in Bacolod City was reportedly caught selling suspected fake paracetamols a week ago, an official of the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF) said.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, deputy for medical data and analysis of EOC-TF, said yesterday, January 23, that they already referred the case to the City Legal Office (CLO) for the filing of appropriate charges against the business establishment owner, whose name is being withheld.
Sorongon said they earlier conducted an inspection together with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) at the city’s Libertad area where they caught the employees of the store selling the supposed fake paracetamols.
“We are still in the pandemic, but some of our constituents are taking advantage of the situation so they should be fined and penalized,” he stressed, adding that illegal activities like this should not be done as there is no shortage of paracetamol supply in Bacolod City.
"There are hundreds of brands of paracetamol, but most of our residents are looking for a specific brand of paracetamol like Biogesic," Sorongon added.
The doctor said the drug stores are now limiting the sale of the paracetamol because they also notice that some of the consumers are buying boxes of supplies for their future use.
Based on the monitoring of the EOC-TF, pharmacies are limiting the sale of paracetamols to at least 10 tablets for every customer to avoid hoarding.
Sorongon urged Bacolodnons to buy medicines in reputable pharmacies and drug stores to ensure that its products are authentic and should check the brand and expiration of the medicines.
The EOC-TF also asked the assistance of the barangay officials to monitor their areas of jurisdiction to prevent the selling of fake paracetamol tablets within their barangays.*