Joe Effiong, Uyo
A total of 42 pharmacies and 397 patent medicine shops have been sealed up in Akwa Ibom State for various offences by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).
The registrar of the council, Dr Elijah Mohammed who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Uyo, said the exercise was carried out by the enforcement team off the PCN which visisted 600 of such health facilities in 13 out of the 32 local government areas in the state.
Mohammed who was represented by Stephen Esumobi, director of enforcement of the council, said some of offences committed by the affected pharmacies and patent medicine shops included failure to renew premises licence, dispensing ethical drugs without the supervision of a pharmacist, selling medicine outside the approved list, poor storage and sanitary conditions among others.
He however attributed the proliferation of illegal medicine shops to the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic which made many people took to selling drugs since it was not included among those businesses to be closed down during the lockdown period.
“Many of these premises still do not have appropriate storage facilities thereby exposing medicines to hard environmental factors like high temperature and humidity.
“Some other medicines which are photosensitive are exposed to direct sunlight. These conditions cause degradation of medicines this making them harmful,” the registrar said.
He however said that since the enforcement activities started, owners of the sealed premises have been complying with relevant regulatory requirements for registration and operation of such premises.