KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — The Health Ministry will be taking aggressive measures following claims on social media that an antibiotic, azithromycin, was being openly sold at a grocery store in Johor.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad in his reply to the claims in a social media post said that the ministry’s Pharmacy Division will act immediately, The Star reported.

"Thanks for the alert @hafezfirdaus. This is extremely terrible... AMR (antimicrobial resistance)!” Dzulkefly was reported as writing in response to the claims.

Earlier, a user with the X handle @fiholic claimed that azithromycin was being sold like "candies for RM15 a dozen” at a grocery store in Forest City.

"Azithromycin is an antibiotic that requires prescription. You can’t sell them openly, even in legit pharmacies,” he wrote.

Azithromycin is a prescription drug used to treat infections, including those for the chest, such as pneumonia, as well as ear, nose, throat and sinus.

Some users have also pointed out that consuming antibiotics without prescription could lead to antimicrobial resistance or AMR.

On Wednesday, the authorities blocked access to 1,675 websites selling illegal pharmaceutical products and confiscated various products worth more than RM500,000 through Operation Pangea XVI conducted across the country from October 3-10.

The Ministry of Health’s (MoH) Pharmacy Services senior director Norhaliza A. Halim said 76 per cent of the websites that were detected selling illegal pharmaceutical products were through e-commerce platforms.

"Complaints regarding all these links were sent to the MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission), the providers of social media and e-commerce platforms to block access to them and have the content taken down.

"There has been an increase in the sale of controlled drugs such as psychotropic substances, painkillers, antibiotics and cough medicine sold by unqualified or unauthorised sellers,” she said in a statement.

Operation Pangea XVI, conducted worldwide from October 3-10, resulted in a total of 72 arrests, the seizure of pharmaceutical products worth more than US$7 million (RM32.4 million), the opening of 325 investigation files, and the closure of over 1,300 advertisement links.