The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) over the weekend, sealed up 581 medicine stores in Adamawa state for various violations and unethical practices.
Speaking at a press conference, Sunday in Yola, PCN director of Enforcement, Stephen Esumobi, said 816 premises were visited during the exercise, made up of 98 pharmacies, 497 patent medicine shops and 221 illegal premises out of which 581 premises were sealed for various offences and violations. These comprised of 35 pharmacies, 325 patient stores and 221 illegal medicine shops.
He further stated that many of the stores were not registered with the council and other registered patent medical vendors were operating beyond the scope of their licence with storage conditions in many of these premises inadequate, thereby exposing medicines to harsh environmental factors like high temperature and humidity, which degrade and make them unsuitable for human consumption.
He said many of the pharmacies had no superintendent pharmacists to supervise the dispensing of ethical medicines and other products with narrow margin of safety and they also operate in locations that were not suitable for pharmacy business.
Esumobi reiterated the commitment of the council to sanitise pharmaceutical business and safeguard the lives of the people of Adamawa and all Nigerians by ensuring complete compliance with all their rules and regulations, adding that the state officer has been directed to carry out continuous monitoring of pharmaceutical premises in the state to ensure all those operating outside the guidelines are brought to book.
He said prior to these exercise, they met with owners of such premises who gave them assurances that they will comply with the law but during the enforcement exercise, many of the premises did not address the anomalies which led to the sealing of their premises in 2022 with illegal medicine dealers still found to be engaged in sale of substances of abuse to members of the public and thus aggravating social and security challenges emanating from the illicit use of the medicines.
