Guardian pharmacy to limit Panadol and Nurofen sold to customers from Dec 24 due to 'high demand'

SINGAPORE — The Guardian pharmacy chain will be limiting the purchases of two brands of painkillers, Panadol and Nurofen, to six boxes a customer with effect from Saturday (Dec 24), making it the third retailer in Singapore to place a cap on over-the-counter medication due to a surge in demand in recent days.

DFI Retail Group, which manages Guardian, said in response to TODAY’s queries on Friday that this was because it is “currently experiencing high demand” for paracetamol and fever relief medication.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and work with suppliers to ensure a steady and sufficient supply of paracetamol and fever relief medication at Guardian.”

The company also encouraged customers to get only what they need.

Both Panadol and Nurofen are popular brand names for over-the-counter painkillers. Panadol contains paracetamol and Nurofen contains ibuprofen.

Consumers are advised not to take more than eight pills daily of paracetamol.

Retailers and pharmacies have seen increased demand for cold and flu-related medicines in the past week. The items are reportedly to be couriered to China, where nationwide Covid-19 restrictions were eased on Dec 7.

Among the drugs in demand are Panadol or the traditional Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingwen that has been touted as a relief treatment for symptoms of Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday advised the public to buy medicines for their own use only, adding that it is closely monitoring the situation and working with retailers and pharmacies to ensure the availability of medicines to treat fever, cough and cold for the population here.

Earlier in the day, supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice announced that it had imposed a cap on Wednesday on the purchase of painkillers, with each customer allowed to buy just up to four boxes of all Panadol and Nurofen products.

Health and beauty chain Watsons told TODAY that it has also set a limit of up to six boxes of Panadol sold to each customer.  

Panadol manufacturer Haleon said that it is producing "record quantities" of the medicine, given the increased demand for over-the-counter fever, cold and flu-related medicines in the past week.