By
Fidelis Jockthan
The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, has shut down about five hundred and eighty one medicine shops in Adamawa state.
The Director Enforcement of the Council, Pharmacist Stephen Esumobi who made the pronouncement during a Press briefing in Yola, the Adamawa state Capital said the action was inline with the mandate of the Council to regulate, controlling the education, training and practice of Pharmacy in all it’s aspects inline with Pharmacy Council of Nigeria Establishment Act 2022.
Giving the breakdown of the operations,the Director Enforcement of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, Pharmacist Stephen Esumobi said a total of 816 premises were visited making up of 98 Pharmacies,497 Patient Medicine shops and 221 illegal premises.
He noted that during the exercise,a total of 581 premises were sealed including 35 pharmacies,325 patent Medicine shops and 221 illegal medicine shops.
Pharmacist Stephen i added that a lot of illegal medicine Dealers were found to be engaged in the sales of substances of abuse to members of the public thereby Aggravating the social and security challenges emanating from the illicit use of these medicines.
To enforce the policy, the the pharmacy Council of Nigeria directed the state officer in Adamawa to carry out continuous monitoring of pharmaceutical premises in the state to ensure that all those operating outside the guidelines are brought to book.
In 2022, the PCN embarked upon a similar exercise in the state and some medicine outlets were sealed for operating in breach of it’s laws and regulations.
Many of the shops were not registered with the Council while registered ones were seen operating far beyond the scope of their licences.
The team also discovered that the storage conditions in many of the premises were inadequate thereby exposing medicines to harsh environmental factors like high temperature and humidity which degrades and make them unsuitable for human consumption.
