The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), has said that the new PCN Establishment Act (2022) assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, targets adherence to global best practices in the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of PCN Prof Ahmed Tijjani Mora at the Occasion of Media Chat in respect of the Gazetting of Pharmacy Council of Nigeria(PCN) Establishment Act 2022, in Abuja, disclosed that the new PCN Act granted stiffer penalties for defaulters, as the intention is not punitive but to act as a corrective measure that will sanitise the profession.
According to Mora: “The Council is a regulatory agency. We are not a profit-making organisation and we are corrective, not punitive.
“In every organisation, we have deviants and that is why we have investigative panels and disciplinary tribunals to ensure that those deviants are brought to book”.
“The fines are meant to act as a deterrent for people not to fall short of the minimum standard expected from them. We are dealing with drugs and this is because the issue is about life and death and a manufacturer of the wrong medication can kill hundreds of people at once. We have zero tolerance when it comes to the quality of drugs in the market”
Mora maintained that both NAFDAC and PCN are required to undertake separate inspections of drug manufacturing facilities to ensure strict compliance with standards in Nigeria
Mora pointed out that before an educational institution is granted accreditation, the two organisations must carry out an inspection and evaluation of their facilities.
“The institutions offering training of pharmacy professionals have been on the increase as the country now has about 219 universities teaching the course.
“Out of this number, we are happy to say that today we have 23 universities with approved Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree and Doctor of Pharmacy Degree programmes and more are in the pipeline, awaiting accreditation and approval”.
Similarly, the Registrar of PCN, Pharm. Babashehu Ahmed said part of the changes introduced in the new PCN Act is the upward review of fines for offenders, which was increased from N250,000 to N2 million.
Ahmed while responding to questions on the performance of the council, with regards to its enforcement of compliance to standards and laid down practices in the sector, he said that a lot of impacts has been made to ensure that people respect the set rules.
“So far the PCN enforcement team has visited a total of 27,262 facilities across the country, out of this number, we have closed down a total of 19,059. From among these, 1,780 were places operating illegally as pharmaceutical premises.
“Also 16,502 are patent medicine shops. Over this period, a total of 110 persons were arrested and are at various stages of prosecution. In the last quarter we have carried out enforcement in Oyo, Ogun states and are currently in Kogi State”
Ahmed further disclosed that a total of 57 pharmacies were sealed in Oyo State, while 335 patent medicine shops were sealed, another 25 pharmacies were shut down in Ogun State during the team’s inspection and 317 Patent Medicine shops closed down.
“Enforcement activities began after a proposal to set up an Enforcement Department in the Council was approved by the Head of Service of the Federation in 2018”.
Ahmed while given details of the powers given to his office under the new PCN law, said the Registrar’s office is now empowered to withdraw the operating licence of any defaulting pharmacy outlets.
Consequently, Ahmed said that it would enable the council to have an effective grip on the activities of pharmacy shops and ensure that they play according to the rules.
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