Mar 18, Kathmandu- It has been found that food supplements are being sold as illegal medicines in Dhangadhi's drug shops. It has been found that nutraceuticals (food supplements) written as 'not for medicinal use' are being openly sold as medicines in pharmacies.

Pharmacies operating under the Medicines Act are not legally authorized to sell dietary supplements. Doctors cannot even prescribe imported dietary supplements with permission from the Food and Quality Control Department. Only a nutritionist has the authority to prescribe it.

However, doctors are openly recommending such ingredients. According to Dipendra Kumar Shah of the Drug Administration Department's office in Nepalgunj, those items are being traded from pharmacies in Dhangadhi market. According to him, the expert doctors recommend it by deceiving the nutritionist and the pharmacy is running the business by charging a large sum of money through the customer.

During the monitoring led by the district administration, it was mentioned that SMD Medicine Distributors located in Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan ward number 1 sold and distributed the medicine, while it was found that Mankamana Medico Center was stocking it.

During the monitoring of 33 pharmacies in Dhangadhi, the error was found in two shops while nine shops were closed. Shah says that pharmacies are also selling dietary supplements on the basis that the doctor has prescribed the medicine to the patient.

Dietary supplements are consumed as food items. It is considered wrong to use it as medicine. According to Section 25 of the Medicines Act, the Department of Medicines has a provision to control such products based on the notification published in the Gazette of 2049.

All food supplements sold and distributed in the Nepali market are imported from abroad. No one in Nepal has been given permission to produce such products in the form of capsules, tablets, and sachets.

Similarly, during the inspection, it was found that some pharmacies in Dhangadhi did not keep records of narcotics and psychotropic drugs, and acetadol tablets were stored in the community pharmacy.