The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) has donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to eight treatment centres and 2,000 community pharmacists across the country in its quest to support the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19).
The donation worth GH¢219,000 is to support and motivate staff of the treatment centres and community pharmacies who have become “real frontline for the COVID-19 with the exponential increase in cases with most of them mildly symptomatic.
The treatment centres include Greater Accra Regional Hospital, University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC), Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Ga East Municipal Hospital, Tamale Teaching Hospital in the Northern Region, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and South Suntreso Hospital in the Ashanti Region.
The PPE included 100 face shields, 120 sanitisers, 20 N95 nose masks, 2,000 multivitamins and zinc tablets, 10 pieces of fluid resistant PPE attire and aprons, rubbing alcohol, mentholated spirit, two surgical scrubs and 125mg of surgical scrubs.
Presenting the items, president of PSGH, Benjamin Kwame Botwe said community pharmacists had not been systematically factored into the official distribution of PPE.
“This if not quickly corrected will not augur well for the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as cases continue to increase exponentially.
“The concern of the leadership of PSGH is that this oversight puts not only pharmacists and pharmaceutical support staff at the risk of getting infected but also the potential of becoming the source of new infections,” he stated.
According to Mr Botwe the Ghana Health Service’s facts and figures document 2018 states that the nation’s outpatient per capita is 0.97 which means that most Ghanaians would see a primary healthcare professional through an outpatient department once a year.
He also said the research also says that on an average, most Ghanaians visit a community pharmacy once every quarter in a year, adding that the net effect of this on our health-seeking behaviours indicates that about 80 per cent of all mildly symptomatic patients may access healthcare through the community pharmacy.
He said based on the current distribution of cases across the country it should be emphasised that majority of the community pharmacy exposure will be in Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Western regions respectively.
Mr Botwe was of the view that a safe and motivated community pharmacy staff would keep the general public who call on them for healthcare safe and healthy.
He called on the Ministry of Health to consider community pharmacists and pharmaceutical support staff in the provision of PPE.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU AND GLORIA NSIAH MINTAH
