The Hospital Authority (HA) in Hong Kong has said it is concerned about the suspected resale of medication prescribed by a public hospital on online retail platform HKTVmall. Local media reported on Monday that the HA had vowed to follow up on a complaint by a pregnant woman concerning a bottle of lactulose she purchased from HKTVmall in July last year. The customer said the product came with a prescription label from the Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital and showed the name of another individual.
According to screenshots widely circulated online, the customer left a one-star review on the HKTVmall site and complained that the bottle of laxative she received was prescribed to a patient surnamed Wong. “Of course this person is not me. It is hard to imagine HKTVmall would allow suppliers to [provide this],” the customer wrote on the website on July 9, 2023.
The customer added she had purchased lactulose from HKTVmall before and expressed concerns over the source of the product and its potential impact on her and her infant. In response to a customer’s enquiry on Facebook, HKTVmall said on Tuesday that the pregnant woman had received the product on May 29 last year and filed a report to the platform’s customer service portal on July 9. Upon HKTVmall’s request for information, the merchant said it was unable to provide security camera footage or photos of the product sent because it was delivered more than a month ago.
HKTVmall later recalled the product on July 25 and offered a refund to the customer. The merchant said the product had been opened and used. The product was later shelved while HKTVmall asked the merchant to provide proof of the product’s origin.
“HKTVmall places great importance on product quality and safety...
if any merchants are found to be selling products in violation of regulations, HKTVmall will immediately remove those products from the platform and fine the merchant. For serious cases, HKTVmall will even terminate the cooperation relationship with that merchant,” the online retail platform wrote in Chinese. In response to local media enquires, the HA said it was concerned about the incident and said people should not to resell their medication or pass it to other people for use.
If any illegal conduct was found, the HA would follow up and pass the case to law enforcement departments, it told local media. Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team.
