Illegal pharmacies: Three arrested for breaking PCN seals in Enugu

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCD)  Enugu State Command has arrested three persons for allegedly breaking the seals of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) and continuing  their illegal drug business. The men were  picked in their various shops at Trans-Ekulu and Abakpa areas of  Enugu, capital of Enugu State, Daily Trust has […]

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCD)  Enugu State Command has arrested three persons for allegedly breaking the seals of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) and continuing  their illegal drug business.

The men were  picked in their various shops at Trans-Ekulu and Abakpa areas of  Enugu, capital of Enugu State, Daily Trust has learnt.

The  Deputy Director, Enforcement Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, Stephen C. Esumobi, who made this known when he  addressed newsmen in Enugu said the enforcement team rushed back from Abuja  to Enugu in order to apprehend the illegal operators.

It would be recalled that the PCN enforcement teams visited several places in Enugu State within the first week of April 2017 to carry out enforcement activities during which a total of  264 premises made up of 52 illegal pharmacies and 212 patent medicine stores were sealed for various offences such as operating without registration with PCN, failure to renew premises license, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of pharmacist, poor sanitary conditions, while five persons were arrested.

Some of the vendors including those that were arrested and awaiting prosecution, after being granted bail, allegedly broke the PCN seals and went back to their illegal activities. This necessitated the second coming of the enforcement team from Abuja to Enugu, Esumobi said.

He said that the men would soon be charged to court to serve as deterrent to others, saying, “three of the five people arrested last time, later upon being granted bail, broke the seals and commenced their illegal operations. If somebody is so notorious that he can’t be afraid of the Federal Government, such person is very dangerous.”

Esumobi said that if the suspects were not prosecuted and punished, the Nigerian society would remain chaotic, adding, “the late Prof Dora Akunyili had set a standard and we are going to build on it, and sustain it.”

He said the commencement of pharmaceutical activities in the illegal premises was a threat to public health since they did not have the right facilities in place to handle the categories of medicines in stock.

He said that  the storage conditions were far below the manufacturers’ specifications as a result there was great possibility that the quality, safety and efficacy of these products were already compromised.

Many of the products in those premises had narrow margin of safety and needed the supervision of pharmacists to be dispensed to the public, because when they were not used properly, they cause harm to the patients, he said.

 “These products are freely dispensed in these premises by attendants that do not have any training on the proper use of medicines,”he said.

Esumobi said the premises were channels for the distribution of products of doubtful quality to other illegal premises across the state and beyond.

He said the PCN would not fold its arms and watch a group of recalcitrant patent medicine vendors continue to put the health of members of the public at risk, pointing out that the council had taken steps to protect members of the public from accessing products from those premises.

“Apart from re-sealing those premises, the enforcement team made three additional arrests and is currently collaborating with security agencies and other organs of government to ensure speedy prosecution of these vendors for breaking the seals and operating illegally,” he said.