The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) have arrested five illegal medicine dealers for breaking its seal in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

The council also sealed a total of 405 premises for violating pharmaceutical council rules.

PCN’s Director of Enforcement, Pharmacist Stephen Esumobi, disclosed this on Friday while interacting with journalists at the conference hall of the Federal Secretariat in Calabar.

Esumobi who spoke after the PCN inspectors from the national enforcement team visited that state, stated that the premises will remain shut until the council is convinced of the owners’ readiness to address lapses observed in their operations.

He said that the council visited 500 premises comprising 84 pharmacies out of which he disclosed that the team identified 216 patent medicine shops and 200 illegal premises.

“A total of four hundred and five premises had been sealed including 31 pharmacies, 174 patent medicine shops, 200 illegal medicine shops.

“Five compliance directives were issued, while five illegal medicine dealers were arrested for breaking Pharmacy Council of Nigeria’s seal,” he said.

Esumobi attributed inadequate handling of pharmaceutical products as one major factors contributing to poor quality of medicines in pharmaceutical distribution chain.

“The storage conditions in most of these premises are very poor and there is a high possibility that many of the products in those premises are degraded due to exposure to harsh environmental factors like high temperature, humidity and direct sunlight,” he stressed.