No fewer than 24 pharmacies, patent medicine shops and unlicensed premises have been shut down by the Lagos State Taskforce on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, in some parts of the state for offences bordering on illegal operations and operating beyond scope of practice.
Most of the sealed facilities are located in Abule Egba, Alagbado, kola, Meiran, Ekoro and Oko-Oba in Ifako Ijaiye and Alimosho local government areas of the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, who disclosed this while reviewing the report of the enforcement exercise carried out by the Task Force, said that the sealing of the affected pharmacies and patent medicine stores was in accordance with the provisions of Section C34 of the Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods Provision Act of 1999.
He explained that the enforcement which is part of the mandates of the Pharmaceutical Inspectorate Unit (PIU) of the Ministry of Health is in line with the State government drive to put a halt to the ugly trend of having unqualified personnel deal with drugs.
The enforcement and compliance raid by the State Task force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods was carried out in collaboration with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria (PCN), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Federal Taskforce on fake drugs and the Police Officers from Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) of Lagos Police Command.
Source: New Telegraph
