Pharmacists raise alarm over growing number of illegal chemists

CHRIS MAHANDARA-KNA

Pharmaceutical technologists have declared a regulatory crisis in the medicines sector, warning that illegal chemists now outnumber licensed pharmacies by four to one, exposing millions to the unsafe and unaccountable dispensing of prescription drugs.

The Kenya Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) Secretary-General, Eric Gichane, accused authorities of presiding over an enforcement vacuum that has normalised the casual sale of antibiotics and other potent medicines without prescriptions.

“We have a regulatory crisis unfolding in real time. The real crisis is not a single transaction caught on camera. The real crisis is a system that allows unsafe dispensing practices to become routine,” he said.

Kenya, he said, has about 5,000 pharmacists and 14,000 enrolled pharmaceutical technologists — roughly 19,000 trained professionals serving more than 53 million people yet unregistered outlets were proliferating across towns and estates, often run by unqualified attendants dispensing prescription-only medicines without proper assessment or documentation.

“We estimate that for every one licensed pharmacy, there are four illegal ones operating daily with zero accountability. This is not a grey area. It is dangerous,” he said.

His remarks come amid heightened scrutiny of pharmacy practice following Public Health and Professional Standards Principal Secretary (PS) Mary Muthoni’s admission that she was sold antibiotics without being asked for a prescription, as well as a viral video showing a dispensing error involving a child.

Addressing the media in Kisumu during the KPA Central Council meeting, Gichane insisted that focus must shift from isolated incidents to systemic failure. 

“One licensed error is investigated and accounted for. Thousands of illegal outlets operate daily beyond scrutiny. That is the imbalance we must confront,” he said.

He accused the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of failing to enforce its own guidelines, particularly those meant to strengthen professional self-regulation, ethical compliance and discipline within the sector.

“This failure is not technical; it is structural. Key regulations designed to protect Kenyans have been allowed to become optional,” he said.

He further pointed to what he termed a glaring capacity gap at the regulator, which has only 40 drug inspectors nationally to oversee more than 15,000 premises and monitor medicines entering the country each year.

“A regulator without sufficient workforce is not a regulator. It is a powerless observer,” he said.

Gichane called on the Ministry of Health to expand the inspection workforce, fully implement self-regulation frameworks, link licence renewal to compliance with professional bodies, impose tougher penalties on unqualified dispensing of prescription medicines and mount a nationwide crackdown on illegal chemists.

“Medicines are not ordinary commodities. Pharmacy practice is not a kiosk business to be left to chance. Patient safety is a right, not a privilege,” he said.

KPA President Chitechi Amboka echoed the enforcement-focused message, arguing that empowering professional associations to oversee members would resolve most of the sector’s challenges.

“We cannot have professionals practising in silos. If all pharmaceutical technologists operate under one umbrella, adhering to a clear Code of Ethics and safer pharmacy charter, we will significantly reduce errors and eliminate quack practice,” he said.