In a move aimed at curbing unlicensed drug stores, all chemists and agro-vets are to submit their licenses to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and Veterinary Medicines Directorate for verification within 30 days.
Failure to which, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said they shall be deemed unlicensed for closure.
Speaking on Wednesday the CS also directed that all unlicensed and noncompliant drug manufacturers, agrovets and chemists be shut down with immediate effect.
"The list of currently approved and licensed establishments has been shared with county security teams for reference," Kindiki announced.
Announcing more measures, the Interior boss also directed that all licensed pharmacists and veterinary doctors dispensing prescription drugs without prescription shall be deregistered.
Kindiki also stated that all licensed chemists/pharmacies and agro vets when issuing prescription drugs shall mandatorily issue a certification of the issuing chemist/agro vets, name and license number of the issuing officer for purposes of tracing.
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has repeatedly warned wholesalers against selling medicines to unregistered and unlicensed pharmacies.
The PPB had also raised concern that some of the pharmacies issued with closure notices during the last inspection have defied the order to close down.
The PPB is the national drug regulatory authority in the Ministry of Health.
It was established to regulate the practice of pharmacy and ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of medical products and health technologies.
The board had earlier called on the public to be on the lookout for chemists bearing no names on display (no signages) as a key indicator of illegal pharmaceutical premises.
The public had been advised to verify the registration details of pharmacy practitioners at the community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies as well as any other drug dispensing premises.
The board putting measures in place to ensure the safety of consumers.
The board has been stepping up the fight against substandard, falsely labelled and falsified drugs to protect consumers from the dangers posed.
It has an elaborate drug registration system that ensures that only safe, quality and efficacious products are registered.
The drugs are analysed by laboratories to ensure they comply with the label claims.
Currently, the agency randomly collects samples from all over the country and effective analysis is done at the National Quality Control Laboratory to test for quality, safety and efficacy.
A system reporting suspected poor-quality medicines and adverse drug reactions has also been established to monitor medicines.
The centres of trade for these illicit drugs are unregulated chemists.
Poverty, which drives consumers to purchase the cheapest goods and services on offer, is said to be a major contributing factor as counterfeit drugs are relatively cheap.
The board has also been conducting a series of crackdowns in the country to help weed out illegal pharmacies.
