PCN seals 231 illegal facilities in Nasarawa State

Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed 231 drug dispensing facilities in Nasarawa State over illegal practices.

Mr Stephen Esumobi, the Director of Enforcement of the council disclosed this at a news conference in Lafia on Friday.

He said that the action followed a week-long monitoring exercise across the state by the enforcement team.

According to him, the sealed premises comprised of 18 pharmacies and 213 illegal patent medicine shops.

He listed some of the offences committed by the operators of the outlets to include: poor sanitary conditions, none availability of pharmacists, poor documentation and non-display of premises and pharmacists annual licences.

Esumobi said that the enforcement team observed during the exercise that there were lots of people selling medicines in the state without regards to laid down guidelines.

He added that “adherence to approved scope of practice by stakeholders was largely non-existent as people without requisite knowledge or skills to handle medicines in their facilities abound.

“The team also observed improper handling of controlled substances in most of the facilities.”

He further explained that the exercise was the first phase of activities that PCN put in place to streamline drugs distribution system and improve the level of pharmaceutical service delivery to the people.

He added that though the enforcement was not punitive but to ensure compliance to regulations, PCN would not hesitate to prosecute recalcitrant offender.

The director advised people of the state to always source drugs from registered updated pharmacies and over-counter medicines from registered Patent Proprietary Medicine Vendors.

He warned that the genuineness of drugs sold in unregistered outlets could not be guaranteed.