Quick answers
Can I keep tablets in a weekly pill box?
Yes, a pill box helps many people keep track of their medicines. But keep the original strips or bottles too, so you can check the name, strength and expiry date. Ask your chemist if any medicine needs special storage.
Are vitamins and supplements safe to leave within a child's reach?
No. Keep them as carefully as any other medicine.
What should I tell the poison centre or doctor?
The person's age and condition, the name of the product and its strength if shown, roughly when it was taken and how much, and anything else they may have swallowed with it.
A strip of BP tablets left on the bedside table, cough syrup poured into an old water bottle, iron tablets that look like sweets to a three-year-old. Most medicine mix-ups at home start with something this ordinary. A few simple habits make them much less likely, and knowing what to do in the first few minutes makes the rest easier.
Keep medicines in their own labelled pack
Keep every medicine in the strip, bottle or chemist-labelled pack it came in. The name, strength, directions and expiry date are what a pharmacist, poison-information service or doctor will ask you for. Never move tablets or syrups into food dabbas, juice or water bottles, or any container without a label.
Put them out of reach
Medicines, vitamins, nicotine gum and pouches, cleaning liquids, pesticides and anything with alcohol in it should be kept where small children cannot reach or open them. A locked cupboard or a child-resistant box works better than telling a child “don’t touch”. Put things back after each use. Bedside tables, handbags, low drawers and the dining table are where children find them.
Keep them apart, check them and throw them out properly
Store medicines away from food and from household chemicals. Every few months, go through the medicine box. Look for expired strips, torn or damp packs, leaking bottles, tablets that have changed colour and labels you can no longer read. Ask your chemist or local health authority how to get rid of old medicines. Do not flush them, pour them down the drain or into a nala, or throw them on open ground unless an official local instruction says that is fine.
If someone may have swallowed the wrong thing
Stay calm. Take whatever is left away from the person and anyone else nearby, as long as that does not put you at risk. Keep the pack, bottle or label with you. Do not make the person vomit, do not give any home remedy or “antidote”, and do not wait to see if symptoms appear, unless a poison-information specialist or doctor tells you otherwise.
The AIIMS National Poisons Information Centre says you should not wait for symptoms or try to treat the person yourself. Call its 24-hour line, 1800 116 117, and take the person to the nearest hospital or health centre. If the person is unconscious, having trouble breathing, having fits, has burns or seems badly unwell, call 112 at once.
Tonight, open your medicine drawer and move it one shelf higher. Save 1800 116 117 and 112 in the phones of every adult at home.
What needs attention
- The label and original pack are what tell the doctor or poison centre what was taken
- A locked or high cupboard stops most children far better than a warning
- Vitamins, supplements and nicotine products can harm the wrong person or in the wrong amount
- Calling the poison line early is safer than trying a home remedy
Controls that reduce risk
- Keep medicines in a dry place that locks or is out of reach, and put them back after use
- Keep the original strips, bottles and labels
- Check expiry dates and throw out damaged or unlabelled products
- Ask your chemist or local health authority how to dispose of old medicines
- If someone may have swallowed something, keep the label and call AIIMS NPIC early; call 112 if they are in danger
Common unsafe practices
- Putting medicines into food dabbas, drink bottles or unlabelled containers
- Leaving medicines, vitamins or nicotine products where a child can reach them
- Keeping medicines next to food or cleaning chemicals
- Waiting to see if symptoms appear after a possible wrong swallow
- Making the person vomit or giving a home remedy without a doctor's advice
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