Lagos State Govt Shuts 20 Unlicensed Pharmacies

The Lagos state government has shut down 20 medicine stores for illegal practices and failing to comply with the regulatory standard.

The State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

According to the statement, the affected pharmacies and patent medicine stores contravened the regulations guiding the operations of pharmacies and patent medicine stores.

Among the offence of the Pharmacies according to the Commissioner includes inappropriate storage conditions of drugs, absence of licensed pharmacists during business hours, selling of drugs not on the approved list and the display of expired drugs for sale.

He said, “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 Miscellaneous Provision Act of 1999.”

According to him, the activities of the state taskforce on fake drugs would be intensified, to ensure that concerned parties in the pharmaceutical value chain adhered to the provisions of the law.

He further noted that the law prohibits wholesaling of drugs by patent medicine vendors and also prohibits wholesalers from operating beyond their scope.

Pharmacies and patent medicine stores affected are located at Shomolu, Bariga, and Oworonshoki areas of the State.