Girl, 16, buys weight-loss jab without age checks

ROGUE medics stand accused of using skinny jabs as a “side hustle", breaking the rules to prescribe them to children and people not classed as obese.

- SARA WALLIS

Health Secretary Wes Streeting last night called on the regulators to act, saying he was “deeply concerned” by allegations in an undercover probe.

The investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches showed a 16-year-old girl twice ordering weight-loss drugs online from Boots without age verification. She was filmed collecting the drugs in person, despite Boots’ policy of not prescribing to under-18s.

All she had to do was lie about her date of birth to get the drug, which has side effects that include nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, kidney, pancreas and gallbladder disease and depression.

Dispatches reporter Ellie Flynn said: "I was so shocked that the undercover reporter was prescribed it so easily. She is a child."

The documentary, to be screened tonight, also claims that nurses, including those win the NHS, can prescribe weight-loss injections privately without making proper checks.

Dispatches contacted nurses for prescriptions and several sent the drugs without verifying weight or height, taking false details as fact.

Ellie said: "This has become a side hustle for medical professionals.

"There has been such a gold rush around these drugs and there's unprecedented demand.

"There is obviously an opportunity to make money. In the end, patients are suffering and profits are being made."