Illiterates dominate pharmaceutical businesses in Kano – Pharmacists Council of Nigeria

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) says the pharmaceutical business in Kano state is dominated by illiterates who endanger the lives of people who come to them for drug prescriptions.

The PCN said it discovered this after a field inspection exercise in majority of the local government areas in Kano State.

Pharm. (Mrs.) Anthonia Aruya, a PCN Director of Inspection and Monitoring told newsmen that the association visited 65 pharmacies and 931 PPMV shops during the three-day exercise and discovered that most of the medicine stores are owned by unprofessional who operate without any form of education.

She said the council sealed off 677 premises, comprising 41 pharmacies and 636 PPMV shops for not registering or renewing their premises’ licenses as required by the law bordering PCN mandate. 15 compliance directives were issued to three pharmacies and 12 PPMVs for “lapses.”

In her words

“Observations from the field indicate that many stakeholders open medicine stores at will without recourse to regulations. Some could not write or read in English which makes one wonder how they are able to give the right medicines to the right patients.
Overall, there is a displayed lack of understanding of the fact that handling of medicines is firstly a professional service before consideration of the business component. The PCN will follow the process through to provide required guidance to improve the level of service delivery in Kano State. Those affected will be corrected and guided and those who meet the requirements, will be allowed to remain in the pharmaceutical business,” Aruya

said