Pharmacists council seals 514 medicine shops in Adamawa

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has shut down 514 pharmacies and patent medicine shops in Adamawa State.

The council said Thursday that the affected outlets violated guidelines, including non-use of qualified personnel, illegal sale of drugs and failure to update operational licenses.

The Head of Enforcement of the PCN, Pharm Stephen Esumobi, said at a news briefing in Yola on Thursday that 27 pharmacies and 487 patent medicine shops were closed after they were found to have stepped on the wrong side of their operational rules.

He disclosed further that 16 compliance directives were issued during a week-long tour of 705 premises in 13 out of the 21 LGAs in Adamawa State.

The leader of the national enforcement team of the PCN said the premises affected have large quantities of patent medicines with narrow safety margins which would endanger public health if allowed to continue to operate.

Speaking specifically of pharmacy shops that have no pharmacists and which have been consequently shut down, Stephen Esumobi emphasised that they would remain sealed until duly certified resident pharmacists are employed to man them.

“Such pharmacists must provide evidence to show that they are residents in the state, as it is against the council’s guidelines to employ pharmacists resident outside the state of the operation of premises,” he said.

About monitoring of patent medicine stores, he said the aim is to ensure that patent medicine vendors are conversant with the PCN guidelines and obey them.

“Many of the premises have put financial gain above safety of the public through breach of the guidelines,” he said, vowing that the PCN could not condone it.