By Gbenga Olarinoye

OSOGBO— THE Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, has raised the alarm that people’s lives are at great risk with the increasing number of unregistered and illegal patent medicine shops scattered across the country.

The Director of Inspection and Monitoring of PCN, Mrs. Antonia Aruya, disclosed this at a press conference weekend in Osogbo, Osun State.

Specifically, she listed Osun State as one of the states with a high number of illegal and unregistered medicine shops and unlicensed pharmacies.

Aruya said: “Observation from the field in Osun State revealed that many people go into the sale of medicines without following due process while others do not have the requisite knowledge or skills to handle medicines in their premises or are operating beyond their approved scope.

“It is quite disheartening that some cannot communicate in plain English and operate these illegal shops at will to the detriment of the unsuspecting public.

“This is the 27th state that the Council is visiting so far. At the end of the exercise, a total of 501 premises comprising of pharmacy and patent medicine vendors were visited, 378 premises were sealed comprising of 20 pharmacies and 378 medicine shops, 9 were given compliance directives for various offences.”