Relocate in two weeks, PSN orders medicine dealers

Ted Odogwu, Kano

The Registrar of Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, on Friday in Kano issued a two-week deadline to all patent medicine dealers, particularly those at Sabon Gari drugs open market, to relocate to the new Coordinated Wholesale Centre on Zaria road, Kano.

Addressing newsmen in Kano on Friday, the PCN Registrar, Pharm Ibrahim  Ahmed, said the measure is to rigidly enforce regulatory standards on the distribution and sale of drugs.

According to him, the location of the Kano CWC, to be operated by the Kanawa Pharmaceutical Partners Limited has since been inspected and granted location approval by PCN since 2017.

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However, he lamented that the chaotic drugs distribution system in Nigeria, Kano inclusive has been a major challenge affecting the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines and contributes largely to the menace of drugs abuse and misuse in Nigeria.

“The Open Drug markets across the country unfortunately have contributed to this challenge. They include poor storage facilities, which exposes the medicines to harsh environmental factors, like high temperatures and humidity that impact negatively on their quality, safety and efficacy. Sale of ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist exposes the public to the dangers of wrong use of medicines.”

Similarly, the registrar regretted that most of the medicine shops in open drug markets in Nigeria are unregistered and have been operating illegally, adding that illegal sale of substances of abuse to the public results in social and security problems.

With the commissioning of the CWC on Friday, in Kano, the PCN registrar warned that the sale of medicines in Sabon Gari market and clustered plazas across Kano State will longer be tolerated.

On a final note, the Registrar advised all concerned medicine dealers in Kano to relocate to the CWC in their own interest, failure of which the Enforcement Department of the PCN will shut down all medicine shops operating in open drug markets across the country.