When ‘pharmacies’ got shutdown treatment

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria sealed 57 of the premises in its latest and still ongoing sweep of defaulting drug dealers, citing them for selling drugs outside approved lists and stocking controlled drugs. The shutdown is the latest after officials of the council shut down another 68 pharmacies in October along the corridor of Nasarawa […]

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria sealed 57 of the premises in its latest and still ongoing sweep of defaulting drug dealers, citing them for selling drugs outside approved lists and stocking controlled drugs. The shutdown is the latest after officials of the council shut down another 68 pharmacies in October along the corridor of Nasarawa state and the FCT on ground of illegal operations.
The closure came in a sweep of 10 communities on both sides of the boundary between Nasarawa and Abuja, after it received reports of illegal sales of medicines there. The reports come from its officials, who have been working out of three different committees since the sweep began. Separate committees inspect pharmacies and proprietary and patent medicine vendors, alongside another committee that monitors drug distribution and inspects premises for compliance.
The 68, among 85 pharmacies inspected in communities as as Nyanya, Mararaba, Karu, Masaka, the FCT, New Karu, One Man Village and Karu Zimi, did not make the cut for “unauthorised sale of medicines and operating without the supervision of a pharmacist,” says the council’s registrar Nurudeen Mohammed.
Twelve of them stayed open but had to comply with the council’s regulations of face sanctions for poor documentation and poor storage conditions of medicines. Those are among minimum standards of practice the council sets for operators wanting to deal in drugs—though the guidelines differ somewhat for pharmacies and patent medicine vendors.
Both need registered or their licence renewed by March 31 every year. Many shut down in Taraba did not comply. The council says only three of the 16 council areas of Taraba—Jalingo, Wukari and Takum—have registered pharmacies.
Beyond proper registration, pharmacies are required to have a superintendent pharmacist who will be held liable for whatever happens there and have a certificate of premises registration on display alongside the annual pharmacist’s licence of practice, according to Anthonia Aruya, director of PCN’s inspection and monitoring department, which shut down the defaulting premises in Jalingo.
The clampdown comes for simple reasons. The stock of pharmacists is medicine, or poison—as it is sometimes known in regulation circles. They demand to be kept under stipulated temperatures and humidity, as specified by manufacturers. Many drugs require storage at specific temperatures and break down or lose integrity at temperatures above room temperature. “You expect air-conditioning and proper ventilation,” says Aruya.
“If we cannot be convinced by what we meet on ground, that what they are doing in that facility is such that will maintain the integrity of the drug up until it gets to the patient for use, then we have to be the patient’s advocate,” she tells Weekly Trust.
“We cannot mortgage the health of the nigerian citizenry. Wherever we go and find the situation is something that will not augur well for the public, we take immediate action.”
Last week after the closures, she said, “The era when pharmacy profession is practiced in the state with impunity is over. W will not tolerate the indiscriminate sale of drugs without submission to regulatory control that will guarantee sale and distribution of medicines through approved channels licensed by the PCN.”
And when the council closed pharmacies last October, Mohammed said, “This trend is allowed to continue, it will impact negatively on the health of citizens of both the FCT and Nasarawa state.”
Immediate action is what PCN’s inspectorates are banking on to sanitise drug distribution system that pharmacies and chemists are part of. With registration comes a freedom, and some pharmacists have diversified the business to be able to confront what they perceive as real challenges. Chemists routinely cross the line to deal in antibiotics, not on their approved drug list. Dealers themselves say pharmacists mandated to sell antibiotics are too few to adequately supply buyers. Patent medicine dealers added antibiotics to their stock “due to high demand from customers,” one dealer says in Jalingo.
Still more have expanded stock to include items not considered pharmaceutical or drugs by any stretch. Beverages, tinned tomato and toiletries shared shelf space with medicines in some of the shops sealed. It is business, nothing more, says a patent medicine dealer who passed inspection in Jalingo. Patent medicine dealers have been hardest hit and accuse their association of doing little to protect their interest and leaving them unprotected from excess demands for levies that suck the profit out of their business.
“One of the affected dealers has a family with four kids and they feed from the business,” he tells Weekly Trust. “So, you can imagine the hardship they might be going through now.” But PCN insists its clampdown is not punitive, but to correct and keep dealers in line with a national interest to provide access to drugs.
“Pharmacy is drug business, but it should not be at the expense of the public,” says Aruya. “If they want to continue to engage in this business, they must follow laid-down guidelines. Let us do the right thing.” That depends on who is involved. Defaulting pharmacists can face the council’s tribunal—the regulator’s equivalent of a federal high court—whose decision can only be appealed in appellate court.
Patent medicine dealers get training in basic remedies from the council but are not necessary under its control. They have a fixed period to comply—to get requirements in place—after a shutdown or face outright prosecution.
At least 40 stores shut in Jalingo have reopened after meeting requirements since last week. “If we do the right thing, yes, they will sell, the public will get the right drug, which is our focus anyway, drugs will be stored at the right temperature, the integrity of the product is maintained and the patient gets good pharmaceutical service delivery,” says Aruya.