A total number of 499 premises made up of 30 pharmacies and 469 patent medicine shops have been sealed up for various offences in Ilorin and other parts of the Kwara State by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN.
Addressing newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, shortly after the enforcement, the PCN Registrar represented by the Head of the Enforcement of the Council, Stephen Esumobi noted that the pharmacies were sealed up for various offenses such as operating without registration, failure to renew premises licenses, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacists, poor storage and sanitary conditions among others
Esumobi maintained that the enforcement team has so far inspected 8 local government areas in the State including Edu, Ilorin South, Ilorin West, Ilorin East, Offa, Asa, and Ifelodun Local Government areas with Ilorin alone having the highest number of 328 sealed outlets.
Esumobi also stressed further that pharmaceutical intervention is a vital component in the current fight against Covid-19 pandemic as one of the weaknesses identified in the drug distribution chain in Nigeria is the proliferation of illegal medicine shops which has become worse since the lockdown necessitated by the pandemic.
He therefore advised members of the public to purchase their medicines from licensed pharmacies and simple household remedies from licensed patent propriety vendor’s shops.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
