Selling medicated creams in your beauty shop? Police coming for you

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has expressed concern over an increase in the sale of medicated creams in cosmetic shops.

These are creams used to treat a variety of skin conditions such as eczema, dermatitis, allergies and rashes.

The medicated creams are regulated by the board.

The board on Saturday said medicated creams are supposed to be sold in pharmacies and dispensed by a medical doctor and specifically a dermatologist through prescription.

PPB Coordinator for Good Distribution Practices Julius Kaluai on Saturday said the board will soon mount an intensive crackdown on cosmetic shops which are still selling medicated creams.

Such products may contain inactive ingredients which can cause allergic reactions or other problems, hence are to be strictly dispensed under a doctor’s prescription.

The board further warned wholesalers dealing in pharmaceuticals against selling medicines to unregistered and unlicensed pharmacies in the country.

The board has intensified countrywide crackdowns on unregistered pharmacies in the country with 58 people arrested in a crackdown in Western and Nairobi regions alone.

“Essentially you cannot use other people to commit a crime while you are comfortable somewhere,” Kaluai warned.

Kaluai said that despite the board continuing to conduct a wholesale audit, some notorious people were still engaging in the unlawful practice, putting the lives of Kenyans at risk.

 “If these people will be denied medicines because of lack of licences or are not registered, then the problem we are dealing with will end. We have sampled a few wholesalers within this region and we are going to deal with them firmly,” he noted.

This comes even as the Health ministry plans to increase the number of inspectors in the field to root out quacks from the sector.

The board had issued 136 closure notices in Western Kenya and 54 in Nairobi, which they were following up on during the inspection by a multi-agency team.

The inspectors collected 134 cartons of assorted medicines from the outlets, of an estimated value of Sh5.8million. The cartons will be presented to the court as exhibits.

Kaluai said the efforts by the board received a boost after the Judiciary increased fines imposed on the culprits to deter them from continuing with the businesses.

“These fines are good because this time we have not heard of any court imposing a fine of less than Sh60,000 per charge and, most of them are charging more than Sh100,000,” he pointed out.

He said most of the quacks will find themselves parting away with more than Sh300,000 fines when slapped with three charges of unlawful possession of Part One Poison, operating an unregistered outlet and also doing the work of a pharmacist while not registered as one.

PPB Western regional head Dr Onesmus Kilonzo noted that during the crackdown, inspectors identified that some parents allowed their children to run pharmacies.

“I want to send a strong message to the parents that Pharmacy is a practice before it becomes a business and the practitioner is very essential in a good practice, so let’s keep children and family members away from the practice area,” Kilonzo noted.

For one to operate a pharmacy, they must be qualified either as a pharmaceutical technologist with a diploma or a pharmacist with a degree, otherwise they will be considered quacks risking lives of residents and will be liable for prosecution.

“Drugs are medicines only if they are in possession of a specialist otherwise it becomes poison if possessed by the unqualified people. It is poison until a specialist is involved for it to be considered medicine,” Kilonzo added.

The board has set a window period of renewal of the licences from November 1 of that particular year to December 31 when their current licence is supposed to expire.