The president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong, William Chui, on Wednesday urged people not to stock up on too many painkillers at home, as stores have faced a shortage of the medicine in recent days.

On an RTHK programme, Chui said it is sensible for people to buy over-the-counter drugs for mild illnesses, but the government should enhance education on how much medication people should keep at home.

“You don’t need a large amount of medicine as a backup. You don’t need a month’s worth of paracetamol, cough drops or cough syrup. It’s more than enough to have five days of medicine. If you are still very unwell after five days, you should go to see a doctor,” he said.

Chui also said that when people buy medicine from pharmacies, they must make sure the drugs are approved by the government and come in the original packaging so the quality is guaranteed.

Iris Chang, the president of the Practising Pharmacists Association, told RTHK’s Hong Kong Today that people need to realise that popular brands of painkillers aren't the only kind that can ease Covid-19 symptoms.

“In due course, if everyone understands that what they need is actually behind the counter with the pharmacists, drugs that are under the supervised sale of the pharmacists that you cannot get on the shelves, then we won’t have this kind of stockpiling panic activity,” she said.

There are reports that some people are buying medicine in Hong Kong to send to their relatives on the mainland as Covid-19 cases surge across the border.

Medical sector lawmaker David Lam reminded people that they cannot mail medicine outside Hong Kong unless they obtain approval from the Department of Health, or are registered retailers or wholesalers.

“It’s impossible for us to send a large amount of the drug to help other places. Hong Kong doesn’t have the capacity to do so,” he said.

But he noted that the mainland is one of the biggest suppliers of the active ingredients of paracetamol and said any shortage of supply there will probably be solved in the near future.