PCN Seals off 231 Illegal Medicine Shops in Nasarawa

PCN Seals off 231 Illegal Medicine Shops in Nasarawa

By Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed off about 231 illegal medicine vendors’ shops in Nasarawa State during its field operation recently.

The Director, Enforcement of PCN, Stephen Esumobi, disclosed this on Friday during a press conference in Lafia.

He said that eight compliance directives were equally issued for various offences such as poor sanitary conditions, poor documentation and non-display of premises and pharmacists annual licences.

According to him, “Few people were found to be unable to communicate in English, a situation that could result in a plethora of treatment misadventures with grave public health implication.

“At the end of the exercise, a total of 498 premises were visited comprising 389 patent and proprietary medicines vendors’ shops and 109 pharmacies across the state.”

The PCN enforcement director noted that the operation was the first phase of activities of the council put in place to streamline the drug distribution system and improve the level of pharmaceutical services delivery to the people of Nasarawa State.

Esumobi warned that further action would follow in due course since the PCN was committed to the implementation of the national drugs distribution guidelines.

“The public is hereby advised to source its drug needs from registered and currently licensed pharmacies and over-the-counter medicines from registered shops as drugs sold in unregistered outlets cannot be guaranteed to be genuine,” he said.

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