No fewer than 340 pharmacies and patent medicines vendors Shop (PPMVs) have been sealed off by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) enforcement team in Edo State.
Registrar of the council, Elijah Mohammed disclosure this at a press conference on Thursday in Benin, Edo State capital.
Mohammed, represented by Stephen Esumobi, director of enforcement, said the pharmacies and patent medicines vendors shop were sealed up in Benin City, Ekpoma, Irrua, Uromi, Igueben, Ewu and among others.
He gave the breakdown of the sealed shops to include 84 pharmacies and 256 patent medicines vendors shop.
He said during the enforcement exercise in Edo South and Edo Central senatorial districts respectively, a total of 771 premises comprising 431 patent and proprietary medicines vendors shop and 340 pharmacies were visited.
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The registrar also added that 22 compliance directives were issued to premises for various offences such as poor sanitation conditions, poor documentation and non-display of premises and pharmacies annual licences.
He further added that during the enforcement it was observed that most of the patent medicine vendors in the state are either unregistered or registered but operating far beyond their approved scope.
“The PCN enforcement team has been on the field throughout the week visiting various local government areas of the state. Some observations from the field in Edo State revealed that the owners of many premises are engaged in the sale of medicines with disregard to laid down guidelines.
“Many of them sell medicines beyond their approved drug list. Since they do not have the requisite knowledge to handle ethical medicines and substances of abuse the health of members of the public who patronise them is at risk”, he said.
He, however, advised members of the public to source for medicines from registered and licensed pharmacies and over- the-counter medicines from registered patent and proprietary medicines vendors shop.
Mohammed noted that drugs sold in unregistered outlets are not guaranteed to be genuine due to the effect of poor handling and exposure to environmental factors that degrade them.
