Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp for the latest stories and breaking news.
They swore an oath to do no harm, yet some alleged medical practitioners are endangering lives by selling prescription drugs without proper patient screening, and renting out their licences to fuel a black market in aesthetic clinics
A months-long investigation found that such unethical practices allow these practitioners to rake in thousands each month by exploiting the growing craze for slimming and beauty.
A health expert warned of a rising number of patients misusing diabetes medications such as like Ozempic, Rybelsus and Mounjaro, resulting in severe hypoglycaemia and, in some cases, altered behaviour.
Aliza Shah, Amalia Azmi and Zaf Seraj uncover the dark side of the trade.
Screenshots of the journalist’s conversations with users and sellers of prescription drugs on social media.
Image via AI Generated/SAYS
Prescribed drugs sold without proper screening
The craze for an “easy slim” fix with diabetic drugs has spawned a lucrative side business for medical practitioners, who sell them for between RM700 and nearly RM2,000.
While medications like Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Mounjaro require proper screening and a prescription, some individuals claiming to be doctors or practitioners at pharmacies have been selling them online, making these medicines alarmingly easy to obtain.
At worst, there were also personal sellers, with no way to verify whether the products were genuine or not.
Several sellers approached by the journalists were lax in their assessments despite dealing in prescription medication.
Image via AI Generated/SAYS
In some cases, these drugs are dispensed without any questions being asked. Others require buyers to answer only a few basic questions.
“Do you have any medical illness, allergies, any issues with your thyroid, or a family history of thyroid cancer?” asked one of the doctors when approached.
Her number was shared by a social media user who claimed to have benefited from the drug bought from her.
When told no, the alleged doctor quickly provided the prices, adding that additional information could be shared on a later call.
Free consultation is also available anytime via WhatsApp.
The doctor also shared a picture of what she claimed were Ozempic vials, along with large and small needles and alcohol swabs.
Not wanting to alarm the reporter, she hurried to explain that the larger needle was used to dilute the medicine.
An alleged doctor shared an image of what he claimed to be Ozempic.
Image via SAYS
Gleneagles Hospital endocrinologist and diabetes specialist Dr Saiful Kassim however said Ozempic only comes in a pen-like form, with no dilution required.
He also pointed out that the needles displayed were unsuitable for Ozempic.
“Semaglutide is sold in a multidose pen only by the maker Novo Nordisk, and it does not come in vials.
“Vials mean it is a generic product or something else entirely,” he said.
Dr Saiful Kassim says general practitioners are not permitted to dispense Ozempic or other diabetic medicines.
Image via Dr Saiful B.Kassim
Another alleged doctor was even more blatant, selling Ozempic outright and offering delivery anywhere without any consultation or questions about medical history.
“You can come to our clinic every week for injections or buy a pen and inject yourself at home.
“We can even post the pen to your home,” reads part of the templated message shared by the alleged doctor.
While these alleged doctors were careful not to reveal their full details, the journalists were able to verify that at least one is a licensed doctor by checking their name and practising location against the Malaysia Medical Council’s Medical Register Information and Technical System.
The Malaysia Medical Council’s Medical Register Information and Technical System allows users to obtain information on registered doctors.
Image via SAYS
Telemedicine portals turn prescription drugs into easy buys
The journalists visited several pharmacies in the Klang Valley to see if these diabetes medications could be bought without a prescription.
Most, however, required one, at least for first-time buyers.
Telemedicine portals, however, have made it easy to bypass this safeguard.
A user on social media suggested using a telemedicine platform to easily obtain a prescription for diabetes drugs.
Image via SAYS
For just RM25, the journalists obtained an e-prescription for another prescribed medicine, Rybelsus, through a short online consultation that asked no questions beyond the reporter’s weight and height.
Ozempic was also offered at RM12 for an online consultation and RM1,050 for the medication.
E-prescription and Ozempic were offered at RM12 and RM1,050, respectively, on a telemedicine portal.
Image via SAYS
Unsupervised Ozempic use causes severe dehydration and altered behaviour
Dr Saiful said they have seen a disturbing number of patients who bought Ozempic without proper consultation, only to suffer injection-site reactions, severe nausea and vomiting, and dehydration.
“We have cases of patients who had severe nausea and vomiting and dehydration because they don’t know how to increase the dose.
“They come to the hospital severely dehydrated, needing IV fluids and an inpatient hospital stay… When you are dehydrated, it affects the kidneys, so you can get kidney impairment or kidney failure.
“Some came in with hypoglycemia, and we even had a patient with altered behaviour — not knowing where they are because of severe hypoglycemia,” he said.
Users who bought Ozempic without proper checks or guidance reported experiencing side effects on social media.
Image via SAYS
Dr Saiful said even more worrying is that these patients are also shedding vital muscle mass
He said many were never taught how to adjust their diet, putting them at risk of unsustainable weight loss.
“Ozempic is not candy. You can’t just give them to people and they can start on their own. Supervision is very important,” he said, adding it is crucial to monitor the patient’s weight, and other markers such as blood sugar levels, liver and kidney function, and bone mineral density.
Risks of misdiagnosis and thyroid cancer
Dr Saiful said these drugs should only be prescribed by specialists, not general practitioners who may not fully understand how they work in the body.
He said obesity requires multidisciplinary management, with endocrine specialists, nurses, diabetic educators, and dietitians guiding injections, dose adjustments, and diet.
“Even telecommunication consults are inappropriate; it needs to be done face to face because you have to examine the patient, making sure they do not have certain conditions that can lead to obesity such as insulin resistance.
“You have to check the neck and armpits to look for signs of insulin resistance, check the stomach to see if it can be injected, and look for areas of lipoatrophy (loss of fat tissue in an area) or lipohypertrophy (accumulation of fat tissue, often at injection sites).
“All this needs to be done face to face or you might miss a diagnosis,” he said.
In more severe cases, doctors who fail to physically examine a patient could accidentally prescribe the drug to those with thyroid issues, increasing the risk of thyroid cancer.
Read firsthand accounts of people who developed side effects from these diabetic medications due to lack of proper screening or guidance here.
Doctors offered up to RM40,000 per month to “lease” out their licence
Image for illustration purposes only.
Image via AI Generated/Gemini
Apart from selling prescription drugs without proper patient checks, the journalists also uncovered the practice of some aestheticians renting their licences to aesthetic clinics run by unqualified individuals.
These clinics were offering invasive procedures such as Botox and filler injections, thread lifts, and laser treatments, among others, all of which required the person performing them to hold a Letter of Credentialing and Privileging (LCP).
The LCP is a certification issued by the Health Ministry that authorises a practitioner to perform specific medical or aesthetic procedures, and an aesthetic clinic cannot register or operate without a practitioner who holds the certification.
A sample of an actual LCP.
Image via SAYS
A source within the Health Ministry told SAYS that a practitioner in Johor previously had his Letter of Credentialing and Privileging (LCP) revoked after the ministry found the clinic he was registered under was run by individuals without an Annual Practising Certificate (APC), the mandatory licence for medical doctors.
The source added that the ministry is also monitoring several clinics registered under certain doctors but allegedly operated by others.
Several doctors admitted they had been offered between RM15,000 to RM40,000 per month to lease out their LCP.
The leasing is contractual, with more senior licence holders commanding higher payouts.
Malaysia Registered Aesthetic Medical Practitioners Society president Dr Ungku Mohd Shahrin Mohd Zaman said leasing of LCPs is nothing new and has become so rampant that industry players are speaking about it openly.
Dr Ungku said the practice started around 2013, when the first batch of doctors with an LCP were allowed to open up to three clinics to address the shortage of aesthetic centres in Malaysia.
The condition, however, was that practitioners had to be present at the clinics and if they were in one, the others had to remain closed.
But over time, the system was exploited, particularly by doctors looking for easy money.
“They allow them to use their licence and they are not there at the clinic.
“We had some incidents where the doctors didn’t even know where the clinic was.
“There was a case where the doctor was actually residing abroad, but renting out his LCP to someone here in Malaysia,” he said, adding that he was offered RM35,000 to lease his LCP.
Dr Ungku was offered RM35,000 to rent his LCP
Image via NSTP
Dr Ungku claimed that the malpractice also involved chain clinics, noting that some brands had only a small number of doctors, a figure that does not align with the number of outlets operating under their name.
“Imagine certain clinics have five or six branches but they only have one or two LCP doctors. How do they still perform aesthetic procedures?
“They either do it illegally or they rent it (LCP) from someone else,” he said.
He noted that the rate has since dropped to around RM15,000 as more doctors have obtained LCPs.
“But what worries me is that doctors just attended the LCP exam yet their intention is not to open the clinic but to just rent their licenses,” he said.
Asked why these doctors did not take the exam themselves, Dr Ungku explained there are two groups of people – those who failed the examination, and those who wanted to take the exam but could not due to limited seats.
“At the moment, we can only accommodate and produce about 100 LCP-certified practitioners per year due to examination logistics,” he said.
He said Malaysia needs at least 5,000 aestheticians but currently has only about 800, a number he described as still very low.
“We have been discussing this even at our committee level, but in MOH, as far as I know, nobody has been charged or even their licence revoked for renting it.
“I think this is something they need to look into,” he said.
Read the Health Ministry’s response and the steps it is taking here.