The Pharmacy and Poisons Board is alarmed by absentee superintendents who don't enforce drug dispensing.
The board’s head of good distribution practices Julius Kiluai said the absence of the superintendents leaves licensed pharmacies under the care of unqualified persons.
“Superintendents absent from pharmaceutical outlets shall be investigated and prosecuted,” Kiluai said.
A superintendent is the professional in charge of a pharmacy who is licensed by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
He or she must be at the facility all the time and their absence puts the lives of those purchasing drugs from the outlets at risk due to lack of professional input. They ensure prescription drugs are not dispensed without a prescription, for example.
And ensure antibiotics are not overused.
The PPB and the National Police Service are conducting a joint regulatory operation in Western Kenya and Nairobi.
They are targeting distribution outlets that includes illegal chemists, illegal medicine hawkers, clinics, herbal medicine stores and cosmetic shops stocking medicaments containing preparations misidentified as cosmetics.
Kiluai said the agents who began work on March 13 have seized at least 134 cartons of assorted health technologies and pharmaceuticals in illegal premises. Fifty-eight persons operating them have been arrested and charged.
Charges include operating a chemist in unlicensed premises; possession of Part I poisons while not being an authorised seller; and operating the business of a pharmacist without the presence of a registered pharmacist in the premises.
Kiluai said that the operation is executing arrest warrants relating to pharmacy crimes, enforcement of previously issued closure notices, surveillance and enforcement of adherence to Good Distribution Practices for Health Products and Technologies.
“These warrants were issued by various courts under the specific jurisdiction following absconding of court obligations by the suspects charged with various pharmacy-related offences,” he said.
The seized medicines will be analysed and disposed off according to court orders and PPB guidelines.
(Edited by V. Graham).
