According to a recent study conducted by the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Nasme), over 100 new pharmaceutical firms are reported to have been established across the country in 2018, topping the list of new business establishments.
The development follows a report in 2017 by the Pharmacy, Medicines and Poisons Board (PMPB) that showed that more than 70 medicine stores were closed for contravention of PMPB Act No 15 (1988) and the Regulations in the following areas:
- Stocking Prescription Only Medicines (POMS) contrary to section 17 of PMPB Act No 15 (1988)
- Using unqualified personnel to run medicine stores as opposed to medicine store requirements in Regulation 7.1
- Using medicine stores as clinics in violation of Medical Practitioners and Dentist Act section 59 (1987).
- Stocking medicines suspected to have been stolen from Government hospitals
Therefore, the establishment of these pharmaceutical businesses is not only a business opportunity, but a standardized enterprise.