PCN seals 287 illegal pharmacies in Kogi

THE Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) said it had sealed off 287 illegal pharmacies and patent medicine stores across Kogi state.

The council also said many drugs found to have been contaminated in such pharmacies and stores would be confiscated after proper tests had been carried out on them.

The deputy director, enforcement of PCN, Stephen Esumobi, who made the revelation in Lokoja, the state capital, said the council visited the pharmacies and medicine stores spread across the three senatorial districts of the state for five days.

According to him, 373 pharmacies and patent shops were visited during the exercise, which also had security agencies as part of the team.

Esumobi said the sealing, which cut across the state, was made up of 27 illegal pharmacies and 260 patent medicine stores who contravened various offences.

“The premises were sealed for operating without registration with PCN, failure to renew premises licence, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist, poor storage and sanitary conditions among others.

“Findings of the PCN team showed that in Kogi State, many pharmaceutical premises commenced operations without fulfilling the minimum requirements for registration while others failed to renew their licenses”.

The council lamented the health hazard being caused by the activities of the offenders, many of who he said had changed the components of the drugs through the manner they handled them.

He however said the exercise was not a punitive one, adding that many of the affected pharmacies and medicine stores would be reopened after they had satisfied the laid down procedures and conditions.