Thirty chemists in Nairobi will lose their business licences for operating illegally despite existing closure notices. They are also accused of defacing such closure notices and operating illegally as new entities.

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) is pursuing the owners for arrest and possible prosecution.

Already, 30 practitioners working in these pharmacies have been arrested following last Friday’s crackdown. Their stock was also seized. The suspects are to appear in Nairobi and Kajiado law courts.

The board’s head of Inspectorate and Enforcement, Julius Kaluai, confirmed that five wholesale dealers in pharmaceuticals were found to have violated Cap 244, which regulates the manufacture, prescription and trade in drugs and poisons for use by humans and animals.

“Investigations are underway to ensure arrest and prosecution of the owners, as well as to revoke their licences,” Kaluai said.

Further action will be taken against practitioners in the affected premises. They shall be subjected to disciplinary mechanisms.

Kaluai asked the public to authenticate whether such premises have been registered by checking their names and signage.

“Chemists bearing no names on display or signage are a key indicator of illegal operations,” he noted.

He advised the public to verify the registration details of pharmacy practitioners at the community and hospital pharmacies. “Suspected practitioners should be reported via  [email protected],” he said.

In 2021, the board issued closure notices to 120 pharmaceutical premises. Some 79 outlets completely ceased  operations while 11 complied with the regulations.

However, the board says 30 of them defied the statutory order to close down.

The board is conducting a joint investigation within Nairobi county.

“The major focus is to investigate, prosecute and report on illegal outlets previously closed down by PPB as well as to investigate, prosecute and report on profiled wholesale pharmaceutical outlets,” he said.

He said they would also target licensed wholesale pharmacies that deliberately evade routine audit when scheduled, and enforce closure of non-compliant pharmaceutical premises.

He said they would seek help from police officers and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.