THE Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, has said that about 25,000 illegal pharmacy premises have been sealed across the country in the past eight years.
This came as the council said it was working on accrediting more Faculties of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in the country, thus bringing the total number of faculties to 30.
The outgoing Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of the PCN, Dr Elijah Mohamed, stated this during the public presentation of his scorecard in Abuja, yesterday.
It would be recalled that PCN is in charge of the control and regulation of the pharmacy education, training and practice in the country.
According to him, the premises were sealed because of their engagement in unacceptable practices, ranging from poor documentation, poor hygienic environment, non-regularisation of papers to inappropriate and unethical behaviour.
“The illegal premises that were sealed within the period under review was about 25,000 across the federation, ranging from poor documentation, poor hygienic environment and non regularisation of papers, inappropriate behaviours in the various shops and premises,”he said.
Noting that there were 17 pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences faculties in the country before his emergence, Mohammed said within the eight years of his administration in the council, the number of faculties increased with seven new faculties being accredited to bring the total number to 30.
He added: “Following my appointment as the Registrar of PCN in June 12, 2014, I came up with a vision for my administration to work with Council members, stakeholders and staff of PCN and put in place a pharmacy practice that is generational in thought, actions and deeds; and ultimately promote the tenets of the profession to meet the needs of the patient.
Also speaking, the chairman of PCN, Prof. Ahmed Mora, thanked the outgoing Registrar for putting together the scorecard, saying his efforts in mobilising development partners to support the activities of the council made the difference.
Describing Mohammed as a very lucky person, Mora, said: “One of the many things that Mohammed excelled as Registrar is his relationship with development partners.
“The capacity building programmes initiated by these partners have been wonderful. Indeed, the development partners were to some extent deeply immersed in the implementation of the mandates of the Registry.”