The public should be careful when taking Western medicines as
they accounted for 59.4 percent of the 995 poisoning cases reported
to public hospitals in the second half of last year, HK Deputy
Director of Health Leung Ting-hung said on Friday.
Reviewing the causes, Leung said the most common poisoning
agents were sleeping pills (31 percent), followed by pain killers
(14 percent), antidepressants (12 percent) and cold and flu
medication (10 percent), according to a government press release on
Friday.
Another 122 or 12 percent were caused by multiple agents,
including Western medicines and household products such as bleach
and insecticide.
Leung said 54 percent of the cases were suicidal in nature while
20 percent were due to accidents and 9 percent related to
recreational activities. Among the cases, 54 percent took place at
home and 4 percent in the workplace.
He said the preventive measures include: taking the exact amount
prescribed, always keeping medication in a designated cabinet with
a lock, discarding all leftover or expired medicines, seeking
medical consultation when feeling unwell and reading medicine
labels and instructions carefully.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2006)
