Regulator orders Jumia, other e-markets to stop selling prescription drugs

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has ordered e-commerce sites to pull down adverts for prescription-only medicines amid concerns that patients are taking the drugs without advice from doctors. 

“It has come to our attention that some e-commerce platforms, specifically Jumia Kenya, are engaged in the advertisement, promotion and trade in medicines, including prescription-only medicines, contrary to the Act,” CEO Fred Siyoi said yesterday in a statement. 

He said the platforms pose a great risk to patient safety and promote irrational use of health products and technologies.

“In view of the foregoing, in an effort to continually protect the health of the public and improve patient safety, the board has instructed Jumia Kenya to immediately pull down all the illegal advertisements and appropriate regulatory action is going to be taken against persons and parties involved in this particular case,” Dr Siyoi said.

Experts have sounded the alarm over a growing trend in sale and advertisement of prescription-only medicines on social media, the Internet, and over the counter. In one of the online markets, Jumia Kenya has over a 1.5 million Kenyan subscribers.

As late as Thursday, any Kenyan could order antibiotics, Augmentin, generic amoxicillin 625mg at a two per cent discount. It cost Sh2,500 but was initially being sold at Sh2,550. Maya Online Store is the supplier of the drug. The antibiotic drug is used to treat various bacterial infections.

Prescription medicines are intended to treat major or serious medical problems and are very strong. For safety, certain medicines are approved only with a prescription. Kenyans, pharmacists and pharmaceutical firms have since warned that authorising unlicensed online markets to sell closed drugs poses a great risk to patients and promotes irrational medication.

“This trend by online platforms like Jumia, of advertising and selling prescription medicines outside of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board rules and guidelines is a threat to health,” says Dr Louis Machogu, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya.

Over-the-counter medication

“Antimicrobial resistance as a global public health crisis arises when the bacteria become resistant to locally available and affordable antibiotics because the medicines were accessed and used inappropriately.”

Dr Siyoi, however, assured Kenyans that buying prescribed drugs from online stores and over the counter will soon be very difficult if a proposed law imposing penalties is passed. The Pharmacy and Poisons (Amendment) Bill, 2021, prohibits the sale or dispensing of medicines without a written prescription from a registered health practitioner.

“A person shall not sell or dispense medicine to another person without a prescription signed by a registered health practitioner, medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon,” reads the amendment proposed to replace subsection 5 of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act.

The Bill, has been published and awaits formal introduction in the National Assembly, prescribes a fine of Sh30, 000 or a three-year jail term, or both, for anyone convicted of the offence. It says Kenyans should be protected from casual use of drugs that are harmful to their health. 

“The sale of over-the-counter medication has always encouraged self-diagnosis of ailments without the benefit of medical advice from a medical practitioner. This endangers lives as those who may consume harmful medication suffer adverse reactions or develop drug resistance,” it reads.

The Bill’s sponsor, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter, said self-medication is ruining lives by encouraging misdiagnosis and serious illnesses are being detected when it’s too late.

The World Health Organisation defines self-medication as the use of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms, or the intermittent or continued use of a prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent diseases or symptoms.