OSOGBO — National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, yesterday, sealed off four phamaceutical stores in Osun State for allegedly practising in most unprofessional and unethical manner.

Similarly, the agency also expressed concern over  the unprofessional practices by some pharmacists in the State, stressing that the unethical conducts of such individuals posed dangers to the healh of the people of the society.

Fielding questions from newsmen after inspection  of various pharmaceutical stores in selected towns and cities across the state, NAFDAC Deputy Director, Mrs. Tawa Arilesere ,warned pharmacists to “always ensure that they conform  with the ethics of their profession in the interest of public health.”

Arilesere who was the head of a special team that inspected the pharmaceutical shops in the state noted that the Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, had continued to reiterate the total commitment of the organization to achieve zero tolerance for fake drugs in the country.

According to her the special inspection which was fashioned out to further strengthen the war against fake and counterfeit drugs in the country would enable NAFDAC to conduct on the spot test on certain drugs found in the pharmaceutical shops through a particular sophisticated machine called TRUSCAN.

She disclosed that some of the owners of pharmaceutical shops which the agency clamped down were training people to practice pharmacy despite the fact that they are aware that they were not licensed to do so, saying that such trainees will constitute problems to the profession and put lives of millions of people in danger.

“some pharmacists in this state are building robots against themselves by training people to practise pharmacy because those trained by them will eventually become problems and rubbish the profession by practicing it in the most unprofessional and very unethical manners”, she said.

Mrs Arilesere added that the number of apprentices found in one of the pharmaceutical shops in the state was worrisome and requires urgent attention to flush them away noting that the organization will tackle the menace before such apprentices move out to “kill” unsuspecting people.