By Percy Dabang, Yola.
The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) has shutdown five hundred and eighty one medicines shops in Adamawa state during it’s weeklong supervision of pharmacies and patent medicine shops across the state.
Pharmacist Stephen Esumoni, the Director enforcement of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria made this known while briefing newsmen at its state office in Yola, Adamawa state on Friday evening.
Esumoni said that the weeklong inspection was aimed at ensuring that all medicine retail shops adhere strictly to the guidelines contained in the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria Act 2022.
While narrating the activities of the team in the state, Esumoni stated that the enforcement team who were in Yola for an annual inspection exercise noticed that so many registered Patent Medicine Vendors were operating far beyond the scope of their licence.
“We visited 816 premises in Yola North, Yola South, Mubi North, Mubi South, Girei, Numan, Michika and Demsa local government areas. This is made up of 98 pharmacies, 497 Patent Medicine Shops and 221 Illegal premises.
“Out of this number, a total of 581 premises comprising of 35 pharmacies, 325 Patent Medicine Shops and 221 illegal medicine shops were sealed, ” he said.
He added that most of the premises visited were operating far beyond the scope of their licence while some lack adequate storage condition which expose medicines to harsh environmental factors like high temperature and humidity which degrade them and make them unsuitable for human consumption.
“A lot of the pharmacies visited had no superintendent pharmacist to supervise the dispensing of ethical medicines and other products with narrow margins of safety while wholesalers were engaged in retail practices”, he added.
He further stated that a lot of illegal medicine dealers were still found to be engaged in the sale of substances of abuse to members of the public which is aggravating the social and security challenges emanating from illicit use of the medicines.
He added that PCN state officers have been directed to carry out continuous monitoring of Pharmaceutical premises in the state to ensure that those operating outside the guidelines are brought to book.