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received a very blank look, as if I had told a very very bad joke,
and was politely told that there was no way that she was going to
be taking any of that "poisonous stuff - what with all the
banned products and recalls and dodgy medicine makers".
I briefly
returned her blank look, and she walked out of the pharmacy, past
the shop staff mumbling about how I was trying to offload tainted
products to her.
It was not
until my travel home that I heard the news about the Pan pharmaceutical
recall. I immediately logged onto auspharmacist.net (an excellent
resource) to get the lowdown on all that was happening. I printed
off a list of the recalled items, ready to take to work the next
day, but then left them in the car, as I realised on the way in
that the TGA or Pan pharmaceuticals would surely contact pharmacy
with an explanation and list of recalled items.
Grabbing a
ream of paper for the fax machine in preparation for a day of
heavy fax receiving, and was shocked and dismayed to find that
no faxes had been received.
The usually
quiet Tuesday was ruined with continual phone calls from patients
wondering if there medicines were safe, and whether they should
see doctor. The temp secretary working in the adjoining doctors
surgery was almost in tears, and customers presented with every
single herbal medicine they had ever taken, demanding refunds
for products that weren't even listed as being recalled!!
As I write
this on the Thursday evening, I have still received no fax or
direct information from the TGA. I am told of updates by consumers,
who receive their information from news bulletins and newspapers.
Is there no
network between the TGA and proprietors, other than through the
media?
Were Nature's
Own, Bioglan et al aware of any investigation into Pan Pharmaceuticals,
and the chance of recalls. If so, why were we able to complete
orders just before ANZAC day?
And finally,
Are those
in the media who have emotively driven people into a panic with
regards to all healthcare products (for the simple reason that
it sells newspapers) having any difficulty in sleeping at night?
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