PETALING JAYA: Concerned over the rampant sales of fake Covid-19 self-test kits by unauthorised sellers, the Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) is urging the government to step in and protect buyers amid the rise in infections and brought-in-dead (BID) cases.

       MPS president Amrahi Buang said they were worried about the unregulated sales of Covid-19 self-test kits, especially via WhatsApp and social media, as well as sales by unqualified sellers who are neither pharmacists nor doctors.

       "Fake Covid-19 self-test kits and wrong use of these kits would produce inaccurate results such as false negatives that would not help in combating the pandemic.

       "Furthermore, with more cases of BID, the government needs to act immediately before the situation worsens," he said in a statement on Thursday (Aug 19).

       He added that ideally, self-test kits should be provided free to the public, but if the government is not able to do so, a mechanism to subsidise the cost should be put into place.

       Thus, MPS is urging the government to manage the sales and distribution of self-test kits efficiently via subsidisation or price control mechanisms, and immediately curb and end sales of fake kits, as well as sales by unqualified sellers.

       In view of potential price control mechanisms, MPS advised the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to give a grace period of one month before implementation as the move would assist pharmacists who have already purchased the self-test kits at a higher cost to clear the more expensive stock.

       "In the event a grace period is not granted, MPS wants a subsidy or refund mechanism to be put in place to avoid losses to pharmacists who purchased the stocks in good faith.

       "In ensuring price controls benefit the public, the ministry must ensure price controls include not only standardisation of the sales price, but also control of the cost price from the supplier," he said.

       This is because MPS has received numerous complaints from the public and from pharmacists of self-test kits being sold online and via WhatsApp at extremely low prices, and with no guarantee of the product being genuine.

       As the ministry only has a general complaints page at https://eaduan.kpdnhep.gov.my/, MPS also suggested that a dedicated page be set up to enable complaints against fake products and sales by non-pharmacists and non-doctors.

       "This would enable turnover of complaints to be handled quickly and efficiently by the ministry's enforcement arm," said Amrahi.

       He added that it is critical that a mechanism to identify fake and genuine stock of self-test kits be implemented to further protect the public and suppliers of self-test kits, the ministry and the Malaysian Device Authority (MDA) should work on it immediately.

       "In addition to all the above, the ministry should also help enforce the MDA's policy for conditional approval that allows only licensed pharmacies and healthcare facilities to sell self-test kits online with a proactive approach in barring runners and unqualified sellers from selling self-test kits, as they don’t conform to MDA’s prerequisites of stock-keeping and information sharing with customers," he said.