Seye Adeniyi reports the efforts by the Oyo State Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to curb sales of adulterated medications in the society.IN its determined efforts to curtail the unwholesome activities of selling adulterated drugs in the state, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), South-West Zonal Office in Ibadan, last week, carried out the destruction of seized drugs and other pharmaceutical products worth millions of naira.The PCN staff in conjunction with officers of the Oyo State Waste Management Authority, the officials of the Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat, as well as the staff of the Oyo State Ministry of Health, top officers of the National Agency for Foods, Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) carried out the exercise, just as the destruction of the products were carried out at the Oyo State rubbish dump of Lapite, old Oyo road, Ibadan, where products worth two million naira were destroyed.Speaking before the exercise, the Deputy Director of the PCN, South-West Zonal Office, Mrs Yetunde Oseni, disclosed that drugs and other pharmaceutical products worth two million, three hundred and fifty-five thousand, nine hundred and twenty nine naira (N2,355.929.50) were seized from unauthorised premises including kiosks, iron containers, as well as from unregistered drug dealers since the year 2007 to 2011, adding that the seized products were not only counterfeits, they were also considered expired and unfit for human consumption.According to Oseni, 'the seized drugs and items were found wanting and constituting a great risk to the public. As such, they should be destroyed because this action will not only serve as a serious warning to the dealers, it would also convey a message of warning to them that anybody caught selling such unwholesome drugs and pharmaceutical items risk being arrested and prosecuted.'She affirmed that the Council had the Federal Government's backing and authority to control and regulate the practice of pharmacy profession in all its aspects and ramifications.On how such a large quantity of pharmaceutical products were seized in the last four years, Oseni said, 'such seized items from 2007 to 2011 from unauthorised patent medicine stores, unregistered premises including kiosks and iron containers constitutes a great risk to the public health. I hereby advised the public to always patronise registered pharmacies for filling of their drugs and licensed patent medicine shops for other simple household medicines.'She added that soon, the PCN would be engaged in the distribution of signposts to only licensed medicine shops, which she emphasized would distinguish the licensed and registered ones from others. All licensed patent medicine vendors, she further affirmed, should display their signpost in front of their shops.In his address, the Oyo State Director of NAFDAC, Reverend Femi Benjamin Haruna, warned the distributors and dealers of fake pharmaceutical materials and cosmetics to desist from such illegal act, threatening that the flashlight of the agency would also locate them irrespective of their hide-outs.The NAFDAC boss said the agency and PCN were working hand-in-hand to rid the society of adulterated products, stressing that 'NAFDAC will soon set up a task force on counterfeit drugs in Oyo State. In fact, the agency had destroyed goods worth N28 million including cosmetics and drugs in recent times.'The Commissioner of Environment and Habitat in Oyo State, Honourable Wasiu Dauda, commended the efforts of PCN in trying to rid the society of adulterated products, which he said were inimical to public health. He assured the PCN of Oyo State government's support to entrench healthful living of all the citizentry of the state.'The Oyo State Ministry of Environment and Habitat will always continue to partner with PCN in combating this ugly and demonic trend of storing, prescribing and consuming of fake drugs by criminals in human forms,' he stated.The Oyo State Commissioner of Health, represented by the Director of Pharmaceutical Services in the state, Mrs Modupe Adetoro, also commended the efforts of PCN in maintaining a fake-drug free society, just as she pledged the support of the state Ministry of Health to curtail the activities of fake drug dealers.
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