Pharmacists have called for scheduling of medicines in the country.

According to Dr Wairimu Mbogo from the Pharmaceutical society of Kenya this will help in preventing cases of drug abuse in the country.

" It is a recommendation from pharmacists that we should now start scheduling our products, because the products of risk we will consider them as narcotics, psychotropics and the controlled substances as per the law" said Dr Mbogo.

Adding " If you look at other jurisdictions they have categories of medicines which they call the OTC (Over the counter), then they have the pharmacy only medicines which you can either find in supermarkets in small quantities or by pharmaceuticals technologists. Then there is another category which is the pharmacists only medicine and the category of controlled and scheduled substances that are usually handled by pharmacists. If we can implement this model within the pharmaceutical sector we will resolve the issue of drug use and misuse in this country."

Speaking in Mombasa on the sidelines of the Pharmaceutical conference, Dr Mbogo also revealed that the society is currently educating Kenyan athletes on different kind of medicines and safe practice.

"We do not want to see our athletes getting disqualified after taking legitimate medicine to treat something else before they go and run and we end up being blacklisted. We have agreed that we will go down to our people and educate them."

On the issue of unlicensed pharmacists and outlets, Dr Mbogo said they still remains a major challenge calling on the government to work closely with the society to help fight it.

"We have our own self regulation measures as pharmacists and that is why you have been seeing crackdowns on illegal and unlicensed outlets." argued Dr Mbogo