By Grace Gilo
Pharmacists and veterinary doctors have today found themselves in the fight against drug and alcohol abuse by the government.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki brought up new measures to combat drug abuse which has now become one of the major threats in the country.
“Chemists and Agrovets must submit their licenses to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the veterinary medicine directorate for verification within thirty days from today failure to which they shall be deemed unlicensed for closure. All licensed and non-compliant drug manufacturers, Agrovets, and chemists are to be shut down with immediate effect. The list of currently approved and licensed establishments has been shared with county security teams for reference,” he said.
“All licensed pharmacists and veterinary doctors dispensing prescription drugs without prescription shall be deregistered. All licensed chemists, all pharmacies, and Agrovets when issuing prescription drugs shall mandatorily issue a certification of the issuing chemist’s or Agrovets name and license number of the issuing officer for tracing and traceability,” he said.
This comes as a bomb to many people because most people prefer taking over-the-counter drugs from chemists to seeing a doctor for consultation to get a prescription.
In recent years, NACADA has proved the abuse of drugs meant for medicinal purposes by drug abusers who in most cases get them over the counter in chemists and Agrovets.
The county security committees have been issued with the existing approved and licensed list of manufacturers, distillers, pharmacists, and Agrovets and the committees have been directed to shut down and destroy all illicit manufacturing installations, distilleries, Agrovets, and chemists not within the approved list of licensed enterprises within the next ten days.
This new measure on chemists and pharmacies will have a big effect, especially on business people who run them as businesses, especially during these tough economic times.