The enforcement team of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has arrested 20 notorious illegal medicine dealers in Kaduna for breaking seals having locked up their stalls over illegal operation.
They were arrested when the council’s enforcement team in company of men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) visited their premises within and around Benin street, Kano road, Warri and Calabar streets in Kaduna metropolis on 9th 10th October, 2017.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Enforcement, Pharmacist Stephen Esumobi says that the arrested dealers will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
The council had in September carried out enforcement activities in Kaduna state where a total of 395 illegal premises were sealed.
“In spite of efforts by the PCN to encourage stakeholders to meet the standards required to operate patent medicine shops, some premises owners broke the PCN seals and continued with the illegal sale of medicines mostly within and around Benin street, Kano road, Warri and Calabar streets in Kaduna metropolis. These premises are not registered with the PCN and the storage conditions within the premises are deplorable,” he said.
According to him, the illegal operators of the premises lack the requisite knowledge to handle the products in their shops as a result of which many of the drugs are exposed to environmental factors that alter the pharmacological and the pharmacokinetic profiles of the drugs; thus making them unsuitable for human consumption.
“Unfortunately these products are freely sold to unsuspecting members of the public thereby endangering their health,” he said, noting that some of the operators of the earlier sealed premises have been visiting the PCN zonal office in Kaduna to fulfill conditions for registration such as employment of pharmacists to supervise the dispensing of ethical products, improvement in the storage conditions and compliance with the approved drug lists for patent medicine vendors.
