Guardian Has Also Placed Purchase Limit on Panadol & Nurofen

Rachel Goh

2022-12-24 , 2:10 pm

You would have heard that the demand for Panadol and Nurofen has skyrocketed in the past few days.

It’s gotten so bad that from 22 December, NTUC Fairprice began imposing a limit of four boxes a customer.

Just yesterday, Watsons began implementing a purchase limit of six boxes a customer.

Today, there’s another addition to the list of retailers who are imposing purchase limits on Panadol and Nurofen.

From 24 December, Guardian pharmacy chain will begin reinforcing a purchase limit of six boxes a customer.

This situation certainly sounds like a tough pill to swallow.

Guardian Sets Purchase Limit on Panadol and Nurofen

Guardian is the third retailer in Singapore to impose such purchase limits.

This decision was made due to the rapid increase in demand for Pandol and Nurofen in the past few days.

DFI Retail Group, which manages Guardian, has also advised customers to buy only what is necessary.

Surge in Demand

In case you don’t know, Panadol and Nurofen are painkillers.

While Panadol contains paracetamol, Nurofen contains ibuprofen.

Moreover, both are sold as over-the-counter medications in many pharmacies in Singapore, making them easily accessible.

On 7 December, China eased COVID-19 restrictions after sticking by a zero-COVID policy for so long.

This has caused a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

However, it has also resulted in a shortage of drugs like Panadol and Nurofen.

Thus, China nationals in Singapore have been purchasing and sending these painkillers to their relatives back in China.

As of 2020, there are about 426,000 Chinese nationals living in Singapore, which explains the long, snaking queues at pharmaceutical outlets recently.

Here’s a video if you want to understand the surge in demand better:

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Buy Only for Personal Use

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has advised the public to buy these medicines only for their own use to avoid wastage.

In addition, the ministry has said that it is monitoring the situation closely.

While MOH has already placed additional orders for Panadol and Nurofen, there is concern that it may take a longer time to restock some brands.

MOH has also reassured the public that other generic medicines are just as effective. It has advised the public to buy alternative brands should their preferred brand be unavailable.

Guardian stocks 500mg paracetamol tablets from its house brand. Paracetamol is a pain reliever for symptoms such as fever, headache and pain and is a key component of Panadol.

MOH has added that they will work closely with retailers and pharmacies to ensure that the supply of such medications continues to be sufficient.

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Mitigating the Purchase Limit

It is uncertain whether other retail chains and pharmacies will follow suit.

In addition, the traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen, popularly used to relief treatment for COVID-19 symptoms, is also in high demand.

Haleon, the company that manufactures Panadol, is reportedly producing “record quantities” of the medicine, according to Today.

Despite this, Shin Min Daily News has reported that some have taken to purchasing Panadol and Nurofen from Malaysia.