Determined to curtail the illegal activities of some drug dealers, the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, has sealed 581 pharmacies in eight local government areas of Adamawa State.
The local governments are Yola-north, Yola-south, Mubi-north, Mubi-south, Girei, Numan, Michika, and Demsa.
The Director of Enforcement, PCN Pharmacy Stephen Esumobi disclosed that the affected pharmacies were operating below the stipulated standards of the council.
“A total 581 premises were sealed. The promises sealed include 35 pharmacies, 325 patent medicine shops, and 221 illegal medicine shops,” he said.
Esumobi, who directed the Adamawa State office of the PCN to continue monitoring the pharmaceutical outlets in the state, pointed out that the action is to ensure that all those operating outside the guidelines are brought to book.
He noted that despite several meetings with the operators in the state, many of them still refused to comply with the PCN directives since after the year 2022, sealing of their premises.
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He added that “a lot of illegal medicine dealers were still found to be engaged in the sale of substances of abuse to members of the public thus aggravating the social and security challenges emanating from the illicit use of these medicines”
He warned that any pharmacy without superintendent pharmacists to supervise the dispensing of ethical medicines will face the full wrath of the law.
Esumobi further disclosed that many premises were operating in locations that were not suitable for pharmaceutical business, even as he insisted that such operators should relocate or face sanctions.
The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria is an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, established in 1992 to regulate and control the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria.
Its responsibility is to oversee the practice of pharmacy across the country, as well as supervise pharmaceutical education in Nigeria. The council was previously known as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria until 2022.
After 2022, PCN became a government parastatal established by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria Act 2022, charged with the responsibility of regulating and controlling pharmacy education, training and practice in all aspects and ramifications, including regulating Pharmacy Technicians and Patent and Proprietary Medicines Vendors.
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