In an effort to ensure that all premises where medicines are sold fulfill conditions with respect to location, storage facilities, environment, documentation and personnel, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed off 305 premises made up of 20 Pharmacies and 285 patent medicine shops for various offences in the state.
The registrar of the council, Dr Elijah Mohammed, represented by Pharmacist Stephen Esumobi, who is Director of Enforcement, at a press conference at the end of their one-week exercise in Kebbi, disclosed that the seal-off was as a result of various offences committed by the operators.
He said such offences includes failure to renew their licenses, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist, poor storage and sanitary conditions among others, adding that a total of seven pharmacies and patent medicine shops were issued compliance directions.
Dr Mohammed explained that the motive behind the operations of these illegal medicine shops was profit-making, which, according to him has created room for unhealthy practices such as the sales of substances to criminal elements.
He said a total of 508 premises comprising 42 pharmacies and 466 patent medicine shops were visited in 16 out of 21 local government areas of the State.