Profession to act against dispensing of hearing aids in pharmacies

The public is warned against purchasing hearing aids or amplifiers directly from retail pharmacies and other non-registered persons. According to the Speech, Language and Hearing Professional Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) these pharmacies are acting in contravention of the law and these amplifiers could cause irreversible hearing loss to normal hearing members of the public.

23 Apr 2013

Complaints have been received by the Board concerning the dispensing and selling of 'hearing aids' to the public by unregistered people working at certain national pharmacies and retailers. In their advertising, 'hearing aids are dispensed by trained nurses'. These nurses, who do not fall under the ambit of the HPCSA, are placing the public at risk, by illegally administering treatment for clinically unproven hearing problems by supplying un-prescribed amplifiers, are in breach of the law and practicing outside their scope of practice.

"The illegal dispensing of amplifiers is misleading to the public who assume that the person is attending to their hearing condition is qualified, which is not the case, as no qualified, professional consultation or hearing test can be provided by a nurse," says Prof Shajila Singh, chairperson of the professional board. "Un-prescribed amplification can damage the hearing of normal hearing individuals and such hearing loss could be irreversible.

"We believe this form of advertising is irresponsible and the matter has been escalated to our legal services department for further engagement with the pharmaceutical retailers and South African Nursing Council (SANC)."

The public should be aware of the impact of noise and increased intensity levels on hearing and are advised to only consult registered audiologists for professional hearing tests, should they suspect any hearing difficulty.