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| President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Mr. Olumide Akintayo |
Four pharmacists have been banned from
practice for three years by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria,
following their indictment by an investigative panel and disciplinary
tribunal.
Their offences range from operating
illegal premises without registration, to operating illegal clinics,
pharmacy, fake registration, and use of other people’s licences to
register illegal pharmacies.
Among them is a senior officer of a state ministry of health whose licence was withdrawn for three years.
The Registrar/Chief Executive of PCN, Elijah Mohammed, stated this in an interview with The PUNCH during a workshop in Abuja organised by the council for pharmaceutical inspectors.
According
to him, the PCN has declared “full-scale war against indiscipline, war
against fake drugs and war against illegal premises for the good of
Nigerians.”
The workshop, he said, was meant to
inculcate in the inspectors a new mindset for better output, adding that
PCN is modifying the process in order to be able to serve the entire
country and ensure that pharmaceutical services are up to standards.
Mohammed said, “The names of four
pharmacists have been struck out from the register and they cannot
practise as pharmacists in Nigeria for the next three years. Some did
illegal registration, some were operating a combination of illegal
clinics and pharmacies.
“Some were using other people’s licences
to register illegal pharmacies. Some were operating illegal premises
without registration. We started with pharmacists, but we are going to
extend this to non-pharmacists very soon.”
Mohammed said the PCN tribunal was
equivalent to a High Court and that the persons concerned were duly
investigated and prosecuted after they were found guilty.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Health, Mr. Linus Awute, represented by the Director of
Traditional Medicine, Mr. Moshood Lawal, said the cardinal objective of
the national drug policy was to ensure that members of the public have
access to drugs that are safe, efficacious, affordable and of good
quality.
He said it was the responsibility of PCN,
as a regulatory authority, to ensure that all premises where drugs are
manufactured and displayed for sale are licensed and subject to control.
He said, “The pharmacy profession is very
dynamic and because of new advances in the sector, it has become
necessary to update the knowledge of the pharmaceutical inspectors, if
they must remain relevant in the regulatory process.”
Source: Punchng
