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Pharmacists council seals off 499 patent shops in Kwara

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Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed off a total of 499 pharmacies and patent medicine shops in Kwara state for unprofessional practices.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the Registrar of the council, Elijah Mohammed, said that offences for closing down the premises included operating without registration with PCN, failure to renew premises license, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist, poor storage and poor sanitary conditions.

PCN, which said that 326 shops out of the total figure, were sealed off in Ilorin, the state capital alone, described the ‘situation chaotic’, adding that 12 pharmacies and patent medicine shops were issued compliance directives.

Mr Mohammed represented by PCN Director of Enforcement, Stephen Esumobi said: “The PCN enforcement team has been in the state since the beginning of this week. The aim of the enforcement exercise is to ensure that all premises where medicines are sold are registered, having fulfilled conditions with respect to location, storage facilities, environment, documentation and personnel.

“The local government areas visited by the team include Edu, Ilorin South, Ilorin West, Ilorin East, Offa, Asa and Ifelodun.

“At the end of the Enforcement exercise, a total of 687 premises comprising 98 pharmacies and 589 patent medicine shops were visited. A total of 499 premises made up of 30 pharmacies and 469 patent medicine shops were sealed off.

“Since the enforcement activities started, the owners of some of these sealed premises have been complying with relevant regulatory requirements for registration and operation of such premises.”

PCN boss revealed that there has been an increase in illegal medicine shops as a result of countrywide lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the identified weaknesses in the drug distribution chain is the proliferation of illegal medicine shops which has become worse since the lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

 

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