54 rouge pharmacists nabbed in week long swoop

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has nabbed 54 rouge pharmacists in a week-long swoop to weed out rogue pharmaceutical practitioners from Central region.

During the raid, the board also seized 127 cartons of counterfeit drugs and closed down 100 pharmacies in the five counties of Nyeri, Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyandarua and Kirinyaga in a joint exercise that was conducted in collaboration with the National Police service.

In a press briefing, Pharmacy and Poisons Board Nairobi Region director, Julius Kaluai, said that the culprits have been arraigned in various courts across the counties to answer to charges ranging from operating unlicensed pharmacies to selling fake drugs. Kaluai also said that some of the cases had been concluded and the inspection team had already surrendered the cache of counterfeit drugs to Nairobi for proper disposal.

“Some of the 54 cases are due for hearing in the various courts and we are withholding the exhibits for production in court. For those that have already been concluded, the counterfeits have already been forfeited for disposal to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board so that they do not end up in the hands of unscrupulous dealers,” said Kaluai.

The inspection team was speaking in Nyeri after conducting week long checks across the five counties.

According to Kaluai, the next phase of the random inspection will now focus on weeding out rogue pharmaceutical suppliers where the problem of counterfeits starts.

Kaluai noted that the Board was investigating complaints relating to a number of distributors who are selling drugs from unregistered outlets.

“This fight against quackery cannot be won without ensuring that the wholesalers maintain discipline in their practice. The wholesalers are supposed to uphold distribution ethics because retailers mostly access medicines from these suppliers and that is where the whole issue of counterfeit begins,” he said.

He  said that the board will also be cracking their whip on unregistered pharmacies operating within health facilities. The Nairobi Region director noted that most of the hospitals had not renewed their operating licenses while others had not registered with the board.

“The Board has registered some of the Level 4 and 3B hospitals to operate their pharmacies within the facility. However, most of them have not renewed their permits while others have not registered at all. Let them know that we are coming to check if their documents are up to date,” he said.