Forty-four-year-old Edwin Gladson had been a regular at a pharmacy in Kanyakumari. But last month, his 13-year-old son Sherwin began vomiting whenever he took his wheezing tablets.  On Sunday, Edwin discovered that expired medicines were the cause of his son’s sudden sickness.

“I had bought the medicine last month and did not check the expiry date. Later, when I checked it did not even have the expiry dates on them. The packet was cut from that portion. My son began vomiting whenever he took the medicines,” he alleges.

Despite his son’s reaction, Edwin decided to continue the medicines. On July 18, he bought “Singulair” (5mg) for his son, and found that the tablets had expired in six months ago, in January 2016.  

“I went back to the shop the next day and got the bill for the medicines for evidence,” he said. The pharmacist apologised for his mistake. “This is not the first time they are doing this and I want to create awareness about this problem,” he said.

Although Edwin hoped to file a complaint, the police refused to accept it. “Police was busy so I gave them a written complaint about the incident but the inspector said that they cannot file a complaint because no one was hurt and I should go to the state drugs department for this issue,” he said.

Edwin now plans to register a complaint at the consumer court.