A Cuban from Villa Clara denounced that he was scammed when buying a drug on the black market, and alerted on his social networks so that there are no victims.
Javier Rivero Urribarrenoa resident of the Santo Domingo municipality, recounted in his Facebook that a lady who is dedicated to selling medicines in Santa Clara deceived him.
He wanted to buy clonazepam, which is used to control seizures and panic attacks, and was actually sold meclizine.
“The pills are fake. Turns out it’s actually not clonazepam but meclizinewhich is used to treat or prevent nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness,” he said.
On Saturday, Javier asked for help from a doctor to find out if the medicines he had bought were authentic, after the Cuban authorities warned of the detection of counterfeit medicines in the informal market.
“Apparently it seems to me that they are, since in all social networks, both in the newspaper Granma and on official pages such as CyberCuba News, I’ve seen this medicine ‘clonazepan’, which I take, -and The knob did not cost me anything cheap (2,500)– has been exposed as ‘false,'” he recounted in another post.
“Until now I did not know that they existed in this type of container until I saw what is happening. When I bought them, said bottle caused me admiration, but I did not give it importance since I need them for my health,” he added.
Finally, he asked other people who may have also been scammed to make the complaint.
“It can be very detrimental to the health of others, selling them knowing that such medicines are fake,” he concluded.
Last week, the Cuban Agency for the Control of Medicines and Medical Products (CECMED) issued a warning about the detection of counterfeit drugs circulating on the black market.
That state body received two notifications in June in the Drug Information Service related to ketotifen, attributed to the manufacturer Stada.
The suspected drug was originally purchased in Haiti, and after extensive analysis and collaboration with the World Health Organization, it was confirmed to be counterfeit.
EL CECMED warned that its quality, safety and efficacy cannot be guaranteed, and that its use represents a risk to the health of the population and should not be ingested under any circumstances.
In addition to ketotifen, which is used to treat respiratory conditions such as asthma, allergic bronchitis or allergic rhinitis, CECMED also warned about other counterfeit medicines in June, such as clonazepam itself and neurobion, an association of water-soluble B complex vitamins.
Cuban medical authorities warned that consuming counterfeit medicines could be ineffective and cause adverse reactions, endangering people’s health.
In the midst of the health crisis that Cuba is suffering, with a shortage of medicines in pharmacies and hospitals, the population must go to the informal market to solve their needs.
A few days ago the illegal sale of medicines in Cuevita, Havanawithout the need for medical prescriptions and at very high prices, but even so, it is the only way to acquire them for those who have no other way.
