…For alleged ‘quackery activities’
by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Pharmaceutical Inspectorate Committee (PIC) in Kogi State has shut down over 100 medicine stores in the State.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by PIC’s Vice Chairman, Dr. Lawal Muhammad Omuya, and issued to newsmen to mark this year’s World Pharmacist Day, on Monday with the theme ‘Pharmacists Strengthening the Health System.’
Dr. Omuya, who doubles as the State Chairman Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), said the PIC in Kogi State draw her membership from Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) and staff of State Ministry of Health, using the instruments of PCN.
According to him, the body carried out the operation between January and September, 2023, and the body is working round-the-clock to put an end to quackery in Kogi State.
He further acknowledged that, “Quackery in pharmaceutical practice can be looked at from professional and facilities angle. The professional angle has to do with people, who are non-pharmacists (both educated and non-educated) presenting themselves as pharmacists in the society and, thereby, carrying or attempting to carry out the role of a pharmacist.
According to him, “On the second hand, we are also looking at facilities that exist in the community that are illegal – not in good standing with the pharmacy practice. These are drug stores that are stocked to the brim, giving an erroneous impression of a ‘pharmacy,’ as people patronize them, thinking that these are registered pharmacies where they could get quality drugs and pharmaceutical services.”
“While we are currently addressing quackery on these two bases, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in collaboration with Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, through the Pharmaceutical Inspectorate Committee, established in all the 36 States of the Federation, including FCT, go out routinely for monitoring and inspection, to ensure that we tackle this problem of quackery we have in our society.
“You will agree with me that, this will require a lot of resources. When we go on routine monitoring and inspection and we discover that a facility is existing illegally, it is outrightly shut down and sealed,” Dr Omuya stated.
The Vice Chairman also noted that, “Those that are not existing illegally, which are licensed by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria for the purpose of providing pharmaceutical services to the community, but are falling short of the standard they are expected to operate – those facilities will be given what we call ‘compliance directive’ within a specific time frame for them to meet up.
“If they are unable to meet up, we shut them down, too. These are measures that we put in place to ensure that we have sanity in healthcare delivery.
“For individuals that are not supposed to be involved in pharmaceutical practice, they are made to face the full wrath of the law when they are caught. This is what led to shutting down over 100 medicine stores operating illegally and also arresting those, who are quack in the system, within this year,” he stressed.
PIC then appealed to the Kogi State Government to collaborate with PSN and PCN to ensure that their activities can be carried out more effectively and efficiently by providing security, means of transport and other logistic needs for their operation.
The committee chairman stressed that, “On this year’s World Pharmacist Day, the Kogi State PSN Pharmacist said that pharmacists help to reduce health care costs, wastages, and improve health outcomes, including value for Nigerians’ money.
He also urged Kogites to always consult pharmacists on drug matters, adding that, “Pharmacists strengthen the health system through optimization of medication use and also reducing medication-related burden, thereby strengthening the health system of the nation.”
The World Pharmacists Day, which is observed on 25th September, annually, marks the anniversary of the inception of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 1912, and was adopted by the FIP Council in 2009. Our correspondent reports that the World Pharmacists Day campaign is led by FIP every year with the theme chosen by the FIP Bureau.
Insightful piece