PPB officials addressing the press. [Photo/KNA]
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) has embarked on a crackdown against medical quackery and unregistered health institutions in Mombasa and its environs.
A Senior Inspector of Drugs with the Board, Julius Kaluai said the impromptu crackdown was meant to ensure adherence to set health matters laws.
Kaluai told a press conference in Mombasa on Thursday that 40 bogus pharmacists have so far been arrested in the ongoing crackdown.
However, he said the number of those arrested was lower than that of last year when over 70 quack pharmacists were netted in the region.
Kaluai said most of those nabbed were unregistered practitioners who also lacked qualifications to handle or dispense drugs.
He said the unregistered premises were storing and displaying drugs in the environment that was not conducive which compromised the quality of the drug products rendering them ineffective.
“The operation is still underway and the arrested quacks and unlicensed practitioners will be taken to court,” he said flanked by scores of drug inspectors.
He said the board has received several complaints about quacks running clinics and chemists and vowed that the practice will not be tolerated anymore.