By SARAH MWANZA –
ZAMBIA Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) has warned pharmacy owners who employ unqualified personnel risk losing their licences and being prosecuted.
ZAMRA public relations officer Ludovic Mwale said those who register as entities to sell medicine were also required to employ trained pharmacists.
Mr Mwale the licence terms and conditions for operating a pharmacy or chemist were very clear about the kind of qualifications needed for staff employed by an operator.
He said the authority had observed that most drug stores operating in communities were staffed by unqualified staff and were also operating illegally.
This posed the risk of members of the public being sold drugs that could harm them prescribed by pharmacy staff that were not properly qualified for the job they were doing.
Mr Mwale said while it was the role of the ZAMRA to protect the interest of society in such matters, members of the public could help by shunning pharmacies they suspected were not properly registered or employed unqualified staff.
He said unregistered drug stores also tended to sell expired drugs which could be detrimental to people’s health.
Meanwhile, some Lusaka residents have called on the authority to intensify checks on pharmacies and take punitive action against those found guilty of flouting the regulations.
Peter Kabwe said cases of pharmacies selling expired drugs were a matter of grave concern. “We call on ZAMRA to treat this matter with the urgency  it deserves in order to safeguard people’s lives,” he said.