World Pharmacists Day: PSN calls for joint effort to tackle quacks, fake drugs

In commemoration of the 2024 World Pharmacists Day, the Pharmaceuticals Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called for collaboration with government at all levels to fight against quacks and sales of fake drugs across the country.

The Ogun State chairman of the association, Adewale Adenugba, made the call in an interview with DAILY POST on Wednesday, warning that quacks who do not cease their nefarious activities will face the wrath of the law.

Adenugba lamented that charlatans have taken over the selling of medications and are operating unlicensed pharmacies in various towns and markets, including Kuto in Abeokuta and Oke-Aje in Ijebu-Ode.

Citing Kano’s major market as an example, he stated that the Council is doing all it can to close outlets where fake drugs and unregistered pharmacies operate. He vowed that Ogun will not be left out.

Adenugba said, “We have so many challenges and we are doing our best to battle them. We have so many quacks in our profession, road side medicine sellers, fake pharmacists in town and recently NAFDAC went somewhere in Lagos and saw someone producing chloroquine and other drugs.

“This is of great challenge to the populace so we are doing our best in collaboration with NAFDAC and NDLEA because we also have the case of drug abuse in our society.

“We have some market in Ogun State like Kuto market charlatans just put the drugs there and sell. In Ijebu-Ode there is new market and Oke-Aje market that sell drugs.

“We want to have a monitoring taskforce and we want the state government to help us inaugurate a monitoring taskforce that will look into that and make sure they do the right thing in our state.”

Speaking on this year’s theme, ‘Meeting Global Health Needs’, Adenugba asserted that it not only captures the relevance of pharmacists but also highlights the vital role they play in addressing the evolving healthcare challenges across the globe.

He disclosed that majority of the state’s private hospitals had subverted the role of pharmacists by dispensing medications at pharmacies without the presence of a pharmacist.

“In the hospital settings people don’t really understand what pharmacists do. If you get to private hospitals they have pharmacies in their hospitals but dispense without a pharmacist.

“ We want the way drugs are dispensed in our private hospitals to be the right way,” he added.

Adenugba urged members of the public to buy drugs from known pharmaceutical outlets and always look out for NAFDAC approved drugs.