Buying medicines over the internet can put lives at risk and the dangers should be highlighted in a public campaign, Irish pharmacists said yesterday.
Irish Pharmaceutical Union president Michael Guckian said when a patient bought medicines from the internet, there was no way of knowing whether the medicines were counterfeit or genuine.
"They have no idea what the medicines contain and they are putting their lives and the lives of their family at risk by taking them," he said.
Irish pharmacists were calling for a public awareness campaign to inform patients of the dangers of buying medicines over the internet, he said.
The call followed recent reports in the UK where a patient in Sunderland went blind after taking steroids which she purchased from a website operated from Thailand.
"People will continue to buy medicines online unless the dangers are communicated to them in a public awareness campaign. We are calling on the Department of Health and the HSE to organise this campaign to ensure that lives are not lost," Mr Guckian said.
He said some people might believe that buying medicines over the internet was cheaper than in their local pharmacy but this was actually not the case. The majority of medicines were more expensive when bought off websites.
"It is vital that patients have face-to-face contact with a community pharmacist when they are receiving their medication.
"A pharmacist is trained to provide healthcare advice and is responsible for the safety, health and wellbeing of patients," he said.
The operators of these websites which sold medicines to people over the internet without prescriptions or face-to-face contact had no regard for patient safety or the quality of medicines they sold. There was no comeback for the patient when something went wrong, Mr Guckian said.
He added that people who purchased medicines on the internet from Irish websites were supporting an illegal act as it was illegal to sell prescription medicines on the internet in Ireland.
The Irish Pharmaceutical Union has 1,600 members.
The union said some of the dangers of buying medicines on the internet include:
• There is no way of telling whether the medicines are counterfeit or genuine.
• There is no way of knowing what they actually contain.
• There is often no information leaflet with the medicine.
• It is dangerous to self-diagnose and purchase prescription medicines without consulting a doctor or pharmacist.
Earlier this year the Irish Medicines Board stated that it had contributed to the closing down of 12 illegal online websites which sold medicines. Nine were based abroad and three were based in Ireland.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the regulatory body, has also announced it is to establish a taskforce with a view to protecting Irish patients from the dangers of illegal websites selling medicines.