The Pharmaceutical Services Branch (PSB) in Public Health Services has been advised of forged electronic prescriptions for Schedule 8 opioid analgesics being presented across the country with the following prescriber details:

Doctor: Dr Premjeet Singh

Address: NSW

PBS Prescriber No: 2058302 Contact Phone: (02) 6583 2555 Contact Fax: Blank

The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care are working with the National Prescription Delivery Service provider to investigate this fraudulent activity and prevent any further forged electronic prescriptions being created. 

If an electronic prescription is presented at your pharmacy that includes these details, practitioners and their support staff are advised to contact the prescriber to confirm whether the prescription has been legitimately issued to a known patient. PSB is aware of a legitimate prescription being issued by this NSW prescriber being issued in Tasmania. 

Care should be taken when contacting a purported prescriber using the telephone number provided on the prescription, as they may not be contacting the registered health practitioner.

 The prescriber's name may be checked on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Register of Practitioners, and the practice address and telephone number should be verified independently through other published sources.

If you are presented with a fraudulent prescription:

 

• Poisons Regulations 27 and 51 require people dealing with either paper or electronic prescriptions for Schedule 4 or Schedule 8 medicines in Tasmania to retain prescriptions that appear to be fraudulent in any respect or forged, and are required to inform Tasmania Police or PSB of the relevant circumstances as soon as practicable.