Officials from the Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board have arrested more than 40 individuals operating illegal chemists in Nairobi.
In crackdown launched against illegal pharmaceutical outlets, the agency disclosed that a total of 62 illegal outlets were found to have been operating without valid licences in the capital and have henceforth been shut-down.
Interestingly, a number of those whose licenses have been revoked were selling government drugs.
On Thursday, officers from agency carried out a crackdown in various estates around Nairobi.
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It would later emerge that some 62 pharmaceutical outlets have been operating without valid licences.
The board’s Nairobi region head Dr. Julius Kaluai disclosed that the affected facilities do not meet required standards and were manned by people who lack the requisite knowledge to handle and dispense drugs.
Most of them are stocked with government medicine raising questions as to how they got hold of these supplies.
On the process, officers from the agency were lucky to apprehend 43 individuals linked to these illegal chemists.
Eastleigh is one of the most notorious estates, harboring majority of these chemists and several people were taken in after Thursday’s crackdown.
KPPB notes that all the names of proprietors of the said chemists are with the police who are under instructions to hunt them down.
Just last year, over 3,000 rogue pharmacists were arrested and 700 illegal drug outlets were shut down in an operation mounted by the board across the 47 counties.