Tanzania must enforce drug sales ethics

Although Tanzania's Fair Competition Commission inspectors have raided all kinds of stores selling fake electronic goods and electrical fittings, ironically, this has not happened in an area that directly touches on people's health - the supply of medicines, reports to local newspaper The Citizen.

While the Commission is empowered by law to rein in unscrupulous importers and traders in fake goods, the Council of Pharmacists in Tanzania lacks the teeth to regulate the sector, permitting more than 700 registered pharmacies to endanger lives by violating the professional code of ethics with impunity.

According to the chairperson of the Council of Pharmacists, Zarina Madabida, most pharmacies casually sell drugs that require doctor's prescription and dispensing by qualified pharmacists, and called for the government to act urgently to rectify the situation. The newspaper says it support for her call for the enactment of the long-overdue legislation to permit the council to crack down on errant pharmacies. The council should be given powers to register and directly supervise pharmacies, it adds.