His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, has approved the decision of the Private Health Institutions’ Violations Consideration Committee at Riyadh Health Affairs General Directorate, fining the owner of a pharmacy SR 30.000, and closing it for 60 days; due to non-compliance with the Pharmaceutical Institutions and Products Law at the Ministry of Health (MOH). Besides, the decision stipulated referring the pharmacist to the Health Practitioners Commission, in order to take the statutory penalty against him.
Other violations of the said Law included that the pharmacist had been caught injecting a patient with vitamin ampoule and another diabetic with insulin inside the pharmacy, in addition to the existence of diabetes testing device, diabetes testing pens and used swabs, as well as injecting patients with10 ampoules, sold to patients and claimed to be anti-flu vaccination, aside from disposing the used syringes and empty containers in a normal wastebasket. Moreover, the irregularities included finding open kits of diabetes devices for some patients, samples of antibiotics and nutritional supplements inside a kit on the warehouse shelves and inside the drawers, a used device for measuring blood pressure, as well as aused thermometer.
The MOH has emphasized that it would take all the statutory procedures, including the cautionary closure, towards any health institution that does not comply with the required quality standards of health services; in an endeavor to oblige such institutions to improve their conditions and redress all irregularities observed there, pursuant to the statutory procedures.