JEDDAH, 23 November 2007 — The Ministry of Health has clarified that medicines for cold containing Pseudoephedrine (PSE) can be sold over the counter. The clarification follows the widespread distribution of a letter from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the General Directorate of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province that said such drugs could only be purchased by prescription.
The earlier letter from the General Directorate of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province and the Ministry of Health — which had been in the public domain for 10 months — was posted on Internet forums and copied in e-mails. It said that PSE caused side effects, heart problems and also affected people’s circulatory and central nervous systems.
E-mails concerning PSE also included pictures of the outer packaging of popular medicines for cold. The letter, addressed to private hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies in the Eastern Province, was dated Jan. 29, 2007, and signed by Dr. Tawfik Al-Ohali, director of Medical Licensing and Pharmacology Affairs in the Eastern Province. “I think it is a war on drug companies,” said Dr. Ali Zawawi, director general of Medical Licensing and Pharmacology Affairs at the MOH.
Zawawi said that the General Directorate of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province “was not authorized to issue the circular, which, according to him, was based on scientific studies.”
“These decisions must first be approved by the Medicine Registration Committee,” said Zawawi, adding that the General Directorate of Health Affairs in Riyadh checked the study after which the director of the General Directorate of Health Affairs in the Eastern Province issued another memo a month later saying that the medicines were not prescription-specific. “People, however, only saw the first letter on the Net and continued to forward it to others,” he added.
A pharmacist working for the Ministry of Health’s toll free helpline said the medicines mentioned in the circular help against general symptoms of cold and do not cause any side effects to a normal healthy person. However, he added that heart patients must not use such medicines.
“There is a misunderstanding among people. These medicines are internationally authorized under the category of medicines that are available without prescription,” said the pharmacist.
The new memo states that the Medical Registration Committee has checked medicines containing PSE, and allowed their sale over the counter taking into consideration the recommendations of international bodies such as the Food & Drug Administration and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medical Products.
The memo adds that the medicines should be used by prescription only for children under the age of two, as mentioned on the outer packaging. The Ministry of Health further advised members of the public to call toll free number 800 249 4444 if they have further queries.
