Patent medicine store is one that stocks and sells over-the-counter medicines (medicines sold to the consumer without any prescription). They are usually designed to exist in remote locations where there is a paucity of pharmacist stores. They also add to the services of the pharmacist in towns and cities. They make access to routine and much needed medicines easy and they play a critical role in the treatment and prevention of primary care diseases. However, the existence of patent medicine stores is fraught with a lot of inconsistences which brings their safety to question. We would be exploring the patent medicine stores in Nigeria to bring these inconsistences to light.
- Poor Regulation of Services: The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) through the National Association of Proprietary and Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED) regulates the setting up and running of patent medical stores in Nigeria. But like a lot of regulatory bodies in Nigeria, its operations are hampered by bribery, corruption, nepotism and frank malpractice. A lot of patent medicine stores are set up without meeting the requirements as stipulated by the council and this makes the practice unsafe. If individuals who are not appropriately trained to dispense drugs are allowed to hand drugs to sick people, they pose a risk to public health. They can dispense drugs that would be to the detriment of the consumers’ health.
- Sale of Expired Medicines: Due to poor regulation of services, the sale of expired medicines is now common place in patent medicine stores. Consumers are at risk of using expired medicines and now have to be wary of the medicines they purchase. This is due to the drive for profit-making without regard for the health or safety of consumers. Businesses should be profit-oriented but not to the detriment of safety and health of consumers.
- Over-the-Counter Sale of Prescription Medicines: Prescription medicines are medicines that are only purchased with a doctors’ prescription. This is to regulate its use and prevent abuse of such medicines. A consumer can walk into a patent medical store and purchase a prescription medicine without a prescription as these patent medical stores have been shown to stock even prescription medicines which is against the rule. Prescription medicines are medicines with a lot of side effects and interactions, which means that their use needs to be under the supervision of a doctor. The use of prescription medication without doctor’s supervision is dangerous to the well-being of consumers.
- Sale of Controlled/Banned Drugs: Controlled drugs are drugs whose manufacture, possession, sale and use is under strict control by the government. There is a gamut of controlled drugs and the sale of controlled or banned drugs is common place in patent medicine stores. A useful example is the sale of codeine containing cough syrups which was reported to be abused in Nigeria and was subsequently banned in May, 2018. But this ban has opened up the door for back door importation and black market sale of codeine-containing syrups through pharmacies and patent medical stores. Patent medical stores portend a risk to the health and safety of the public if they remain a loophole in the regulation of controlled or banned products.
Other issues with the safety of patent medical stores include wrong dispensing, inappropriate dosing, off-label use of medications, etc.
The regulation of patent medical stores remains the major loophole in achieving safety of this much-needed instrument of medicine supply to the public. A review of current policies concerning setting up and running these stores with an enforcement of existing rules and regulations will make patent medicine stores safer.
