Local health professionals employed to a public hospital, are illegally selling a powerful ulcer treatment drug to persons wanting to have an abortion.

The health practitioners, who sell the pills to be misused as a baby killer, fail to warn the buyers that the use of the drug can cause death.

The drug - Cytotec (Misoprostol) - is prescribed by some doctors to treat serious stomach ulcers and should not be dispensed by a pharmacist without a prescription.

Yet, it is being distributed on the black market for between $6,000 and $7,000 without a prescription and is available to anyone.

An employee of the hospital also told individuals where the pills could be bought without a prescription.

But the pharmacist made no mention of the risk that the pills could pose for the woman or the unborn child.

General practitioner Dr Romayne Edwards stated that a pregnant woman who wants to keep her child would not be prescribed this drug if she was diagnosed with an ulcer problem.

Dr Edwards warned of the risks women face by taking this pill for an abortion.

"Persons can die from the improper use of this medication. But the problems come when the foetus is in the wrong place," said Dr Edwards.

She added that it is extremely dangerous for women with ectopic pregnancies, as when taken for its abortive properties, the pill could give a false sense that termination was under way.

In January 2008, a Ministry of Health-commissioned team recommended that the current laws prohibiting abortions be repealed and replaced with legislation outlining conditions under which medical termination of pregnancy would be lawful.

The posture outlined in the health ministry report was due in large part to an alarming number of botched abortions taking place on the island.

The report, penned by the Abortion Policy Review Advisory Group, revealed that botched abortions were burdening the public-health sector.