Ministry of Health bans four herbal medicines in Oman

Muscat: The Ministry of Health has announced a ban on trade of certain herbal medicines. The Ministry of Health’s Directorate-General of Pharmaceutical Affairs & Drug Control (DGPADC) issued a circular to withdraw four herbal medicines products from the local market following periodical inspection visits to the private pharmacies.
The drugs mentioned in the circular included Shark Extract Tablets, Vimax Capsules, Kamagra Oral Jelly and Dragon’s Delay Spray.
Dr. Mohammed bin Hamdan Al Rubai, DGPADC Director General said: “These herbal medicines products were entered to the Sultanate through informal way for the purpose of financial profit without any regard to the human health and without the approval of the concerned Department in the Directorate, which is contrary to the procedures followed in this regard, as none of these products were registered in the Ministry and therefore it is not allowed to enter and to be sold in the Sultanate”.
He also added that the laboratory tests performed for these products have proved that they contain chemicals substances without mentioning that in the formulation or in the leaflets attached to the product, which was considered as a commercial fraud since the manufacturers clearly mention that those products are natural herbal products. In addition, the substance added to those products is the sildenafil.
-With ONA inputs