Published: August 22, 2026
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MONROVIA – A 20-year-old woman died after she was given a drip at a Paynesville medicine store whose owner told investigators he holds no license to practice medicine and has been treating people in the community for more than a year and a half.
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Princess Logan was taken to the New Day Medicine Store in the Barshell community, off Red Light, early Tuesday after complaining of fever, her husband, Andrew Logan, said at a preliminary hearing of the Liberia Medical and Dental Council. Staff gave her a drip and other medications, he said, and her condition worsened until a man he described as a nurse aide told the family to move her to a bigger hospital. She was rushed out in what he called “extreme critical condition” and was later pronounced dead.
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A joint team from the council, the Pharmacy Board of Liberia and the Ministry of Justice arrested the store’s owner, Wilson Sumo, 58, and Johnson T. Baryo, 20, at the premises Thursday.
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Sumo told investigators he is unlicensed. He said he administered Paracetamol and a drip before transferring Logan when her condition deteriorated, and that the store had treated her, her boyfriend and other residents of the community for more than a year and a half.
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Baryo, who was found inside the store taking vital signs, said he has no medical training and learned to use a blood pressure cuff from his father at home.
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“Using the BP cuff is something that we do on a regular basis, not something that you have to go to school for,” he told the joint team.
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Joseph Colmah, clinical field coordinator at the council, said the arrests should serve as a warning to licensed drugstore and pharmacy operators who treat patients across the counter.
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“You are creating more harm for the society. If you have a license or permit from the Pharmacy Board to run a drugstore or pharmacy, please sell your medication and stop treatment. We have multiple complaints of such cases and they are compounding medical situations for hospitals across the country,” he said.
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The council has acted against similar operations before. In 2023 it closed several drugstores in Duala and Sinkor for administering intravenous drips without supervision. In 2024 a teenage boy died in Lofa County after receiving injections from an unlicensed operator, and in early 2025 the John F. Kennedy Medical Center reported an increase in patients arriving with complications from medication bought and administered at roadside pharmacies.
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The council and the Ministry of Justice said the investigation into Logan’s death is continuing and that anyone found culpable will be prosecuted.
