By Otii Esse
MON, JULY 2 2018-theG&BJournal-The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, has raised the alarm that people’s lives are at great risk with the increasing number of unregistered and illegal patent medicine shops scattered across the country.
The Director of Inspection and Monitoring of PCN, Mrs. Antonia Aruya, disclosed this at a press conference weekend in Osogbo, Osun State.
Specifically, she listed Osun State as one of the states with a high number of illegal and unregistered medicine shops and unlicensed pharmacies.
A drug is a substance that affects the way the body functions. If a drug is classified as ‘illegal’, this means that it is forbidden by law. Different illegal drugs have different effects on people and these effects are influenced by many factors. This makes them unpredictable and dangerous.
Aruya said: “Observation from the field in Osun State revealed that many people go into the sale of drugs without following due process while others do not have the requisite knowledge or skills to handle medicines in their premises or are operating beyond their approved scope.
“It is quite disheartening that some cannot communicate in plain English and operate these illegal shops at will to the detriment of the unsuspecting public.’’
This is the 27th state that the Council is visiting so far. At the end of the exercise, a total number of 501 premises comprising of pharmacy and patent medicine vendors were visited, 378 premises were sealed comprising of 20 pharmacies and 378 medicine shops, 9 were given compliance directives for various offences.
The Deputy Director, PCN Enforcement, Stephen Esumobi said, in Lagos state, they also discovered that there are premises which are outlets for the distribution of fake, substandard drugs, even as some are used for abuse of substance, especially codeine and other related drugs. These illegal premises have channels, which they stock drugs, from where they also explore ways of ferrying them to the North and other parts of the country in a clandestine manner.
According to him, “there are legal patent medicine vendors, that have met the requirement for registration,
“we have what is called orientation. We train them on how to handle simple household medicines because you will agree with me that we don’t have enough pharmacies to cover the whole country.
“That is why the government allows people to be trained to fill the gap pending when we would have enough pharmacies in the country.
“After the orientation, they are made to pass through the continued education programme, which is held every two years. After this, their premises are registered and they are handed a drug list, which they are qualified to deal on since they are not trained professionals.
“This drug list has been approved by the Federal Ministry of Health, but many of them still stock drugs that they are not qualified to vend, thereby putting the health and safety of the public at risk; because the difference between a toxic and therapeutic drug is very narrow; the properties of these drugs could harm patients.
“So, many people die due to wrong use of drugs. In areas where there are high numbers of such outfits, the death rate may be higher. And for a place like the North, where they don’t carry out autopsy, they get away with it.”
Esumobi, who stressed that so many deaths are caused by wrong use of drugs, recalled an incident, which cost the life of his friend.
“A friend of mine, who works with a radio station was sick and his wife invited a patent medicine vendor to their home, and the vendor ended up administering drugs on him.
“Shortly after the drug was administered, my friend started sweating, and it looked like his heart was already compromised. Sadly, he passed on same day.
“And no charges were pressed against the patent medicine dealer because the family didn’t want to, this is one of the many cases that happen around,” he said.
Esumobi urged members of the public to always patronise only registered patent medicine vendors, whose licenses are still valid, as they have been certified to deal on over-the-counter drugs.
He stressed the need for members of the public to avoid mobile drug sellers because patent and proprietary medicine committees that are established in all states of the federation do not monitor them.
