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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
A GWERU Pharmacy has been forced to shut down by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) after the owners were allegedly found selling sex-enhancing drugs over the counter without doctors’ prescription.

About three years ago the MCAZ banned over-the-counter selling of sex-enhancing drugs on the basis of their side effects.

MCAZ — which has the mandate to protect public health by ensuring that medicines and medical devices on the market are safe — had earlier on approved the sale of the drugs without going through the registration process. Springs Pharmacy – which was operating along Seventh Street – in Gweru was recently forced to shut down for selling sex-enhancing drugs such as Blue Diamond.

The owner of the Pharmacy Mr Tafirenyika Gwenzi confirmed that he had been forced to shut down his pharmacy.

He however declined to give reasons.

“Yes the pharmacy is now closed for good. MCAZ cancelled my licence and I have since packed my stuff as I take a long sabbatical,” he said.

The building in which Springs Pharmacy used to operate from now has small to medium entrepreneurs doing various activities such as photocopying.A former employee said MCAZ had cancelled the licence because they had been found selling sex-enhancing drugs to clients without a doctors’ prescription.

“The pharmacy was closed for selling sex- enhancing drugs last week, MCAZ terminated the licence as you see it’s now empty,” said a former employee on condition of anonymity.

Efforts to get a comment from MCAZ were fruitless.Although sex enhancers have been around for ages, initially in the form of herbs, roots and certain food combinations, the recent influx of modern pills like Viagra and all its copycats, has brought in an element of harmful ingredients in the composition of the drugs.

When Viagra, which was supposed to treat erectile dysfunction, stormed the market, popularity of sex enhancers shot up.

There are fears that some of the drugs may cause impotency. The stimulants which are being consumed to remedy things such as erectile dysfunction, female sexual dissatisfaction, penis enlargement, breast enlargement and to increase libido, have several negative effects which are unknown to many people.

Other risks associated with sex-enhancement drugs include cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, kidney failure and priapism.

@pchitumba1