Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/664438
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 10 APRIL 2016 9 News C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Euro Times.pdf 1 30/03/2016 10:55 1 in 20 buy medicines online JAMES DEBONO FIVE per cent of the population are buying medicines online, according to a survey based on a questionnaire answered by 917 respondents from the public. The survey shows that six per cent of those using online medicines (three out of 47) reported negative side effects while five of 31 doctors interviewed in the study claimed that their patients suffered from side ef- fects after buying medicines online. The results of the study have been published in the journal of Euro- Med Pharmacy published by the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the Malta Pharmaceutical Asso- ciation in an article written by Elaine Gatt Baldacchino and Maurice Zarb Adami, who conducted the survey. Only 19.6% felt that buying medi- cines over the internet was as safe as buying medicines from brick and mortar pharmacies. Thirty of the 47 participants who ordered medicines online claimed that they ordered medicines from internet pharmacies in the EU, while six participants used online pharma- cies outside the EU. Ten participants did not even know the country of ori- gin of the online pharmacy. Eighteen of the participants carried out checks to verify if the internet pharmacy was authentic. Two reasons why the public pur- chased medicines online were the lower cost and lack of availability of the medicines locally. Three re- spondents suffered from side effects following the use of medication pur- chased online. The study also refers to a study among 80 pharmacists working in retail pharmacies and 31 doctors. Although the majority of the par- ticipating doctors and pharmacists (52.5%) were in favour of the use of internet pharmacies if the source was reliable, many expressed their lack of trust for these sites and fears regard- ing safety in using the medicines. Forty-two of the 80 pharmacists were in favour of patients using in- ternet pharmacies if the source was reliable. The main concerns among phar- macists was the quality of the medicines originating from online pharmacies. Medicines being sold without a prescription were seen as the greatest risk to patients using in- ternet pharmacies. Another risk mentioned by phar- macists is that the product is not passed through the required checks to ensure its quality, safety and effi- cacy and that underage people can order controlled substances and medicines which are expired, unsafe or counterfeit. Pharmacists rated as the least im- portant concern the risk that the pa- tient or healthcare system may suffer a financial burden due to the need of remedial care following treatment with medicines purchased over the internet. Fifty-nine responses to the ques- tionnaire were also received from registered physicians practising in Malta. Thirty-one of these participants were in favour of using internet pharmacies if the source was reliable. The advantage of cheaper medicines purchased from internet pharma- cies, availability issues of medicines locally and providing a wider choice of medicines to the patient were highlighted. One main concern expressed by doctors was the fear that advice from doctors and pharmacists would be ignored by patients. Five doctors reported giving advice to their patients following side ef- fects experienced due to medicines purchased from online pharmacies. Thirty one doctors claimed that they never asked their patients whether they were using medications pur- chased online when prescribing. Six doctors knew of patients who were abusing illegal drugs purchased online. Man charged with St Paul's Bay murder says victim 'walked into knife' A Bulgarian man charged with stabbing a Serbian man to death in St Paul's Bay in 2013 told jurors yesterday that he had never in- tended to kill the man and that he had acted in self-defence. Emil Atanasov, 29, insisted that he had not made any movement to stab the man – Dragoljub Krstic – but that the eventual vic- tim had simply "walked into the knife" he was holding. Atanasov, a construction work- er, was testifying in his defence as his trial by jury reaches its con- clusion. He is also charged with inflicting bodily harm on another Serbian, Zoran Jocic, who was a friend of Krstic, and with carry- ing a knife during the commis- sion of a crime, that took place in an apartment in Triq il-Merluzz which Atanasov had been renting out. "I am really sorry that a man died and I realize that I will prob- ably have to spend the rest of my life in prison, but I never meant to hurt him," he said. "I was just de- fending myself." Atanasov recounted how Krstic and Jocic were at his apartment at the invitation of his flatmate. The landlord's son had switched off the mains supply after repeat- edly asking the men to stop play- ing loud music that night. The Bulgarian man claimed that the two Serbs had blamed him for the blackout, and that Krstic had pinned him to the wall while Jocic began punching him. "I was hurt and I crawled back to my bedroom," Atanasov told the jurors. "I could hear them singing and laughing and I wanted them to get out of the apartment, so I grabbed a crowbar and a penknife and approached them in the bed- room next door. "I had only intended to scare them away and get them to leave the apartment so I could get some sleep. I told them 'Leave now, be- cause I have a knife' but the man [Krstic] grabbed me by the neck and shoved me against the door, and the crowbar fell to the floor. I was choking but I managed to hold on to the penknife. Suddenly, he released my neck and I ran off." Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi is pre- siding the trial. Assistant Attorney General Philip Galea Farrugia and lawyer Elaine Mercieca are pros- ecuting. Lawyer Malcolm Mifsud is defence counsel to Atanasov. The trial will continue on Mon- day when Atanasov will be cross- examined by the prosecution.