By Deborah Onyofufeke
Over the past eight years, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has shut down over 25000 illegal premises in the country for various reasons which include poor hygienic environment, poor documentation, improper regularization of papers, and improper behaviors in shops and premises.

The PCN outgoing Registrar, Dr. Elijah Mohammed, made this known at the public presentation of his scorecard in Abuja

“The illegal pharmaceutical premises that we closed down within the past eight years are over 25000 across the federation.

“They were closed down due to various reasons including poor hygienic environment, poor documentation, improper regularization of papers and improper behaviors in the shops and premises,” he said

He also recalled that before his appointment eight years ago as PCN Registrar, there were 17 pharmacies and pharmaceutical science faculties in the country, however at the moment, the number of faculties has increased to 30, of which some are set to kick start in the next few months.

Speaking on achievements, the outgoing Registrar said: “The PCN is in charge of the control and regulation of the pharmacy education, training, and practice.

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“In education, we have been able to put in place a new program which is Doctor of pharmacy which combines both clinical and non-clinical concepts of pharmacy practice.

“Before now, the practice was product-focused, but now it is patient-focused. What that means is that whether you are in production, sale, distribution, or dispensing of drugs, the patient is the focus and what impact it is going to have on our patient and with that concern, everybody is sitting up now to ensure that whatever product is coming out, the patient is paramount.”

Dr. Mohammed further noted that some of the challenges the PCN was confronted with within the past 8 years were human resources and infrastructure.

“We don’t have enough human resources, two; is infrastructure, we don’t have enough vehicles to go round to monitor and carry out enforcement across the community,” he noted.

He hailed the regulatory agencies including NAFDAC, the Nigeria Police Force, and others for their cooperation and support over the years.

“The Federal Ministry of Health has been very wonderful in our operations. They have been giving us all the policy support. The judiciary has also been supportive in terms of dispatch of cases,” he said.

The Chairman of PCN, Prof. Ahmed Mora, applauded the outgoing Registrar for putting together the scorecard saying that his efforts in mobilizing development partners to support the activities of the Council made the difference.

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While he described Dr. Mohammed as a very lucky person, Prof Mora, said: “One of the many things that Dr. Mohammed excelled as Registrar is his relationship with Development Partners.

“The capacity-building programs 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.

“Today’s program, which is with the full support of Society for Family Health (SFH) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is one of such commendable collaborations for which the Council is very appreciative.”