PCN Orientates Newly Licensed Medicine Vendors In Kwara

The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) has organised an orientation and Continuous Education Programme (CEP) for newly licensed patent and proprietary medicine dealers in Kwara.
Speaking at the programme in Ilorin, Mr Babashehu Ahmed, the Registrar of the council, explained that the training is part of the requirements for the issuance of Patent and Proprietary Medicines Vendors Licence (PPMVL).
According to him, the holder shall be required to attend an orientation programme (CEP), at least once, every two years.
Ahmed, represented by Mr Bayode Emmanuel, the Deputy Director, Northcentral Zonal Office, Minna, said it was the responsibility of every newly licensed private propriety Medicine Vendor (PPMV) to participate in the orientation programme.
“The orientation is adult learning programmes in which participants are encouraged to be involved in the learning process”, he said.
He tasked the medicine vendors to operate within the provisions of the guidelines as well as the PCN’s approved patent medicine lists.
Ahmed observed that National Surveys in Nigeria showed that Community Pharmacies and PPMVs were usually the first port of call for health seeking individuals in the rural, underserved and hard to reach communities.
He added that the Federal Ministry of Health in a bid to ensure equitable distribution of quality healthcare had targeted the medicine vendors in order to expand their roles in primary health care.
The Permanent Secretary, Kwara State Ministry of Health, Dr Abubakar Ayinla, said the programme was to ensure that all patent medicine vendors had met all requirements of getting licence to practice that aspect of the profession.
He described patent medicine vendors as group of people that were readily available and close to the communities, whom people utilise by buying medical consumables that were permitted to sell.
Ayinla emphasised the importance of compliance, rules and regulations, standard practice and ethics for vendors to uphold.
“We encourage them to learn, so that they will be able to apply their own learning to the evolving changes that we are seeing in the society”, he said.
The State Director, Pharmaceutical Services, Mrs Barakat Olarewaju, advised the medicine vendors to uphold the laws as approved by PCN.
According to her, vendors must sell only drugs on PCN approved patent and proprietary medicine list.
The pharmacist warned the vendors against prescribing or dispensing medicines, adding that all medicines to be stocked by the vendors must be purchased from premises registered by PCN.
President of Nigerian Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealer (NAPPMED), Kwara Chapter, Alhaji Abdulraheem Lawal, assured that the association would ensure compliance with laid down rules guiding their profession.