Health

The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) says it has closed more than 254 illegal pharmacies and patent medicine stores in Nasarawa state in the last three years.

Pharm. Okpalaeke Nwora, the Nasarawa state officer of PCN told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia on Thursday that 89 of such shops were shut in 2014; 110 in 2015; and 55 this year.

“As a government regulatory agency, PCN is concerned about the quality of care given to Nigerians by ensuring that the right things are done by the right people in the right places,” Nwora said.

He attributed the success of the efforts being made to regulate activities of illegal medicine vendors to its strong partnership with the state government, security agencies and the traditional institution.

Nwora added that PCN’s commitment had led to a significant reduction in the excesses of illegal medicine vendors and improvement in the quality of drugs being dispensed to people in the state.

He urged the youth not to allow themselves to be used by some vendors of substandard drugs to harass PCN officials.

“The police and other security agencies are working closely with us in this direction by providing security cover.

“But a lot of sensitization is still needed to make the youth desist from being used by them,” Nwora added.

He said recent findings indicated that most of the dealers in substandard drugs had either relocated from the state or regularised their practice by engaging the services of professional pharmacists.

According to Nwora, PCN will not relent in its efforts to rid the state of vendors of substandard drugs.

He, therefore, appealed to the state government for logistic support to enable the council to carry out its mandate.

(NAN)