{"id":66884,"date":"2016-01-26T16:42:12","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=8e5fa013944f52b380b53cf6a6547c53"},"modified":"2016-01-26T16:42:12","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:42:12","slug":"press-release-investigation-into-use-of-counterfeit-and-non-compliant-equipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=66884","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Investigation into use of counterfeit and non-compliant equipment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>An incident involving the use of a counterfeit dental hand-piece on a patient in the Worthing Tooth Booth Practice on 31 October 2013 led to an extensive investigation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (<abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr>) and the subsequent seizure of more than 100 counterfeit and non-compliant items of dental equipment from 14 Tooth Booth practices, mainly in the South East.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Fazin Tahir was found to be purchasing and permitting the use of counterfeit and non-compliant dental equipment at these practices between 2012 and 2014, putting both patients and staff at risk. <\/p>\n<p>The findings of this investigation were subsequently referred to the General Dental Council (<abbr title=\"General Dental Council\">GDC<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n<p>A <abbr title=\"General Dental Council\">GDC<\/abbr> public hearing in front of a Professional Conduct Committee (<abbr title=\"Professional Conduct Committee\">PCC<\/abbr>) was held on 18 January 2016. The hearing has found the Hounslow dentist\u2019s fitness to practice impaired by reason of his misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr> are working closely with the British Dental Industry Association <abbr title=\"British Dental Industry Association\">(BDIA<\/abbr>) and the General Dental Council (<abbr title=\"General Dental Council\">GDC<\/abbr>) to monitor the use of substandard, counterfeit and illegal medical equipment and to promote awareness of the dangers that they present to patients and operators.<\/p>\n<p>The internet provides easy access to a wide and diverse range of medical products and there has been rapid growth in  sites offering cheaper alternatives but many of the medical instruments and devices on offer are unregulated and authorised for use in the dental sector in the UK<\/p>\n<p>Alastair Jeffrey, Head of Enforcement, <abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr> said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\"><abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr> is responsible for protecting public health and we have seen a worrying trend in the number of websites offering to supply dentists with unregulated and potentially dangerous equipment. Dental patients are entitled to expect quality care, including the standard of the instruments and devices used by dental professionals.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It is vital that dentists and dental staff buy equipment from bona fide suppliers and avoid unapproved or counterfeit devices. I urge all dental professionals to be cautious of seemingly cheap devices which may be unfit for purpose and potentially dangerous to patients and the staff that use them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 id=\"notes-to-editor\">Notes to Editor<\/h3>\n<p>The full determination and conditions imposed on Mr Tahir\u2019s registration can be found <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gdc-uk.org\/Membersofpublic\/Hearings\/Determinations%202016\/TAHIR%20PCC%20Determination%20-%20Jan%202016.pdf\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"background\">Background<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/medicines-and-healthcare-products-regulatory-agency\">Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency<\/a><br \/>\nis responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks. <abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr> is a centre of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which also includes the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nibsc.org\">National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC)<\/a> and the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cprd.com\/intro.asp\">Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)<\/a>. <abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr> is an executive agency of the Department of Health. <\/p>\n<div class=\"contact postal-address\" id=\"contact_2345\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<p class=\"adr\">\n<span class=\"fn\">News centre<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"street-address\"><abbr title=\"Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency\">MHRA<\/abbr><br \/>\n<br \/>\n151 Buckingham Palace Road<br \/>\n<br \/>\nVictoria<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"locality\">London<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"postal-code\">SW1W 9SZ<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:newscentre@mhra.gsi.gov.uk\">newscentre@mhra.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">During office hours:<\/span><br \/>\n              020 3080 7651\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Out of office hours:<\/span><br \/>\n              07770 446 189\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"comments\">Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm. For real-time updates including the latest press releases and news statements, see our Twitter channel at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/mhrapress\">https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/mhrapress<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dentist receives sanctions on his registration for using counterfeit and non-compliant equipment at a General Dental Council public hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}