Pharmacists told :

Beware when dispensing drugs to children

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Dangerous Drugs Control Board (DDCB) will launch an islandwide campaign from tomorrow to create awareness among pharmacy owners on the guidelines they should adhere to when dispensing drugs to children.

The decision to hold such a campaign was taken by the DDCB following an incident recently at a school in Gampaha where nine children were found to be intoxicated after taking painkiller drugs.

It was reported that these children had taken these painkiller drugs to derive “temporary satisfaction” during school hours. The school authorities had rushed the children to hospital for treatment. Director General, DDCB, Karunadasa Gamage told the Sunday Observer that the drugs in question, which were used by these schoolchildren are freely available at any pharmacy in the country and these children had taken excessive doses of these drugs to derive ‘temporary satisfaction’.

“This resulted in these children experiencing dizziness and various other complications as well as other side effects,”.

He said if anybody takes five to six Paracetamol tablets instead of the commonly prescribed two, the person would face various other complications.

He said any drug freely available in pharmacies could be abused if used in a wrong manner.

He said that the main objective of holding this campaign was to caution pharmacy owners to refrain from dispensing certain drugs to customers without a prescription from an authorised medical officer.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardane last week expressed dissatisfaction over the incident which occurred in a school in the Gampaha district and directed the education authorities and teachers to take immediate steps to arrest this situation.

The Minister also called upon parents to keep a close eye on the behaviour of young children.