The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has cautioned pharmacists against dispensing medicines to patients without a medical prescription.
According to him, although some medicines could be dispensed over-the-counter without the need for a medical prescription, some pharmacists have taken advantage to dispense prescription-only drugs which ought to be done with a medical prescription.
Speaking at the induction ceremony of newly registered pharmacists in Accra yesterday, the Minister said the practice has fuelled a surge in drug misuse and abuse and endangered the lives of many patients across the country.
To deal with the threat which he described as ‘motivated solely by monetary gain,’ Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that the Ministry would intensify monitoring and enforcement and ensure culprits were prosecuted.
This year’s ceremony, on the theme “Pioneering the changing phase of pharmacy education and practice in Ghana: The role of policy and regulation”, saw 410 newly qualified and registered pharmacists inducted into the profession.
They qualified after passing the November 2018 and August 2019 Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examinations of the Pharmacy Council Ghana.
Dr Desmond Kwakye was crowned the overall best candidate while Dr Albert Opare and Dr Najat Falwia Mumuni won the Law and Ethics and the Pharmacy Practice awards respectively.
Going forward, the Minister noted Pharmacy graduates would undertake their housemanship in any of the country’s health facilities as pertains Medical Doctors following clearance from the Ministry of Finance to build their expertise in the delivery of effective healthcare.
In line with the inclusion of more clinical aspects to the Pharmacy curriculum to make patients the centre of drug therapy for better outcomes, he urged the new pharmacists to keep abreast with current trends in the management and treatment of diseases by continuously educating themselves with new skills.
Dr Audu Rauf, Registrar, Ghana Pharmacy Council, said the inductees were graduates from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Ghana, Central University as well as foreign trained candidates from China, Germany, Nigeria and United States of America (USA).
He entreated the inductees to comply with legal requirements and embrace best practices as well as respect and treat all patients equally, and protect their dignity and privacy.
Chief Executive Officer of Ernest Chemist Limited, Ernest Bediako Sampong, called on pharmaceutical industry players to provide more support to training institutions to acquire the needed resources to train pharmacists and incorporate technology in teaching and learning to build the competencies of pharmacists in providing patient centered solutions.
He called for a stricter and efficient regulatory policy to guide the practice of pharmacy in the face of growing changes in the education and practice of the profession.
For Ghana to be competitive in the pharmaceutical industry, he said there was the need for conscious efforts by both government and industry players to further innovation and take advantage of the vibrant and creative abilities of the younger professional pharmacists to help revolutionarise Ghana’s healthcare delivery.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS AND KIMBERLY FREMPONG
