Medicines body counsels agro vet shops

IT is a requirement by law that all agro veterinary shops selling medicine for livestock register and get a permit, says Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) public relations officer Lueovic Mwape.

Mr Mwape said it was important to regulate all the agro veterinary shops just like all pharmacy shops were doing because they were also selling medicine for livestock.

In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Mwape said the law was there to ensure that the agro veterinary shops operated according to the standards that were set by ZAMRA.

He said livestock had the right to be given quality safe and effective medicine just like human beings.

“Just like other pharmacy’s that are selling medicine, it’s a requirement by law that all agro-veterinary shops register with ZAMRA because they are also selling medicine for livestock.

“We eat the livestock. Animals also have the right to be given quality safe and effective medicine just like human beings,” he said.

Mr Mwape said he was happy that most agro veterinary shops selling medicine for livestock were responding to the call to ensure that they registered with the regulatory authority.

He said with the guidelines which had been developed, he was confident that the owners of the shops would comply.

“ZAMRA has developed guidelines which people should follow so that we have the modalities and the procedure of how one should go about it such as the qualifications,” he said.

Mr Mwape said ZAMRA had set February 15, as the last day of registration thereafter inspection of all agro veterinary shops countrywide would start to ensure that they all complied.