The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed 14 pharmacy shops and 228 patent medicine stalls over the weekend in Ilorin for various offences ranging from dispensing poisons without supervision of a pharmacist and poor storage conditions. Other reasons why some of the outlets were shut down include selling above the approved list for patent medicine vendors and non-registration of premises with the council. Deputy Director and Head of Enforcement of PCN, Stephen Esumobi, during a press conference in Ilorin, Kwara state capital said it was expected that anyone wishing to start a pharmacy or patent medicine shop should apply for location approval. “When it is approved, the premises will apply for facility inspection to ensure that the structure and personnel are adequate. In Kwara, we discovered that so many premises commenced operations without following the laid down guidelines while many of the premises are located in environments that are not conducive for sale of medicines.

“Many of them also failed to meet minimum requirements for storage and personnel, thereby exposing members of the public to the dangers of consuming medicines whose quality, safety and efficacy cannot be guaranteed,” Esumobi said. Mr Esumobi also revealed during the press briefing that some of those who registered their premises failed to renew their premises certificates with PCN which is mandatory to ensure that any registered premises continue to maintain or improve on the standard that made them secure a license in the first place. He said that the 14 pharmacies that were closed belong to their members who are not allowed to have medicine stalls. He lamented that the number of illegal structures are more in Kwara than any other state in the country.