PCN seals 381 Pharmacies, patent medicines shops in A- Ibom

THE Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, yesterday said it has sealed a total of three hundred and eighty-one premises comprising Fifty- two Pharmacies and three hundred and twenty-nine Patent Medicines Shops, PMS,  in Akwa Ibom State for various offences, including unauthorized sale of medicines of  abuse.

The Director and Head of Enforcement Department, Pharm. Stephen Esumobi who disclosed this at a press conference on Friday, held at PCN South-South zonal office, Uyo said the premises were sealed when the enforcement team visited seven hundred and twenty-seven premises across the state.

Esumobi who noted that PCN guidelines and regulations were designed to ensure  stakeholders met the required standards of practice in their operations in line with global best practices, identified premises, personnel and practice as primary areas of focus  in enforcing PCN laws.

His words:, “The PCN enforcement team has been in Akwa Ibom State since the beginning of the week in continuation of the current drive by the council to streamline the drug distribution system in the country.

“The team visited the following local government areas: Uyo and environs, Ikono, Abak, Itu, Eket, Ibesikpo Asutan, Ikot Ekpene, and Oron. At the end of the exercise, a total of seven hundred and twenty-seven (727) premises were visited.

“This comprises five hundred and fifty-nine (559), Patent Medicines Shops (PMS) and one hundred and sixty-eight (168) Pharmacies. A total of three hundred and eighty-one( 381) premises were sealed comprising Fifty-two (52) Pharmacies and three hundred and twenty-nine Patent Medicine Shops. A total of 16 compliance directives were issued.

“Most of the premises were sealed for offences which include- operating without registration or renewal of premises certificates, unauthorized sale of medicines of abuse, poor access control to the poison cupboards, poor storage facilities and temperature control, stocking and sale of prescription and other ethical products by Patent Medicine vendors among others”

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Esumobi however noted that no arrest was made during the exercise, even as he disclosed that investigation was still being carried out on those sealed premises. He commended the improved compliance with the PCN Laws within the Uyo metropolis, pointing out that the number of unregistered premises was much the last time they carried out the exercise in the state.

He, however, expressed concern that the situation was not too good in places like Eket and Oron Local government areas, saying, ” There are too many illegal premises in Oron, Eket, Ikot Ekpene”

“For those medicines shops that we sealed, we are still carrying out investigations. For now nobody has committed any serious offense that would warrant arrest. However, our focus is not to get anybody out of business, our focus is to ensure that they do the right thing.

“All registered premises are expected to display their current premises certificates or evidence of registration conspicuously within the premises to enable members of the public know the status of the premises where they buy their medicines.

“Also temperature control is vital to prevent degradation of products thus keeping them safe, effective, and of good quality throughout their shelf life. Unfortunately, when some of the products are exposed to high humidity, or temperature, they are transformed to entirely different products.

“Most of the drugs become substandard because of exposure to harsh environmental factors, poor handling by people like patent medicine vendors who don’t understand that temperature fluctuations affects the stability of those products.They just keep the products anywhere, so most of them degrade even  before they expire.

“The Pharmacist understands all these things, but the patent medicines vendor don’t. That is why we are trying as much as possible to ensure that Patent Medicines vendors stock and sell only medicines within their approved drugs list. So we are doing what we are doing in the interest of public health”,  he noted.

(Vanguard)