The Ministry of Health issued an order to pull 5 medicines produced by China’s Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals from the local market and drug distribution centres after receiving international warnings of potential cancer risk.

The Director of the Department of Pharmacy and Medical Equipment in the ministry, Nahed Al-Makki, said that international oversight organizations, led by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), have issued warnings to stop the use of this medicine used to control blood pressure and help prevent heart failure because it contains "Valsartan", a substance that could cause cancer.

She also called on patients who use one of these five drugs to consult their doctors to take alternative drugs.

The European pharmaceutical authorities have carried out precautionary measures and recalled the product from 22 European countries before Bahrain and Morocco also took the same step.