Campaign on abuse, misuse of drugs

Back April 26/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Akemi Hiatt

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG) has launched a year-long campaign to empower the general public to minimise drug abuse and misuse and also take active roles in their health care.
The campaign, dubbed, "Ask Your Pharmacists", is being undertaken in collaboration with Pharma Info Consult, a pharmaceutical consulting firm, and it will also empower patients and the public to demand to speak to pharmacists for their solutions to healthcare problems.
Speaking at the launch, the Head of Drugs Inspectorate of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), Mr P.K. Agyemang-Duah, said the board, together with the police, had begun swoops on people selling uncertified drugs to the public.
He said the sale of unauthorised and uncertified drugs in the system was now overwhelming, with some illegal drug peddlers conducting their businesses in offices and in the open market.
He noted that there were many drugs in the system with directions of use and contents written in languages other than English.
Mr Agyemang-Duah said the situation did not allow the public to read and understand the proper use of the drugs and, therefore, they took them only to compound their medical conditions.
He said the exercise with the police to clamp down on the activities of illegal drug peddlers would be sustained and extended to other regions of the country.
Launching the campaign, the Chairman of the Public Health Committee of the PSG, Mrs Ellen Sam, said as part of the campaign, the pharmaceutical industry would form an Intranet link between community pharmacies and wholesalers to facilitate promptness and efficiency in service delivery.
She said pharmacists would be encouraged to capitalise on the current improvement in telecommunications by developing community directories of prescribers in hospitals and clinics to improve communication between them.
Mrs Sam said the campaign was also to facilitate mutual education among pharmacists and other members of the pharmaceutical care team and build expertise in the various topics chosen, including malaria and nutrition.
She said education would be in the form of symposia, articles by pharmacists and the distribution of leaflets.
A former Chief Executive of the FDB, Mr T.C. Corquaye, noted that many traditional medical practitioners were willing to join the Pharmacy Council but had not had their applications approved.
He said some of those practitioners had somehow found their way onto the market and were selling all manner of concoctions to the public.