The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) has raised concerns over the assertion that about 30% of medicines in the country are fake.
According to the association, current evidence does not support the assertion as Ghana is known to have one of the best regulated pharmaceutical sectors on the continent of Africa.
“The PSGH questions the basis of this assertion especially so when Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has over the years worked tirelessly to guarantee the safety, quality and efficacy of both imported and locally manufactured medicines,” a statement signed by the PSGH President Pharm. Benjamin Kwame Botwe, said.
A publication on ghanaweb.com and on some media portals attributed to Dr. Maxwell Antwi, Country Director of PharmAccess Ghana, claimed in part that “about 30% of medicines in Ghana are either fake or substandard”.
However, the PSGH raising concern over the statement said the publications tend to be an indictment on all the efforts the pharmaceutical sector has been making to safeguard the integrity of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
The group is therefore demanding that the evidence based on which the assertion was made should be made available to the stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry including the various regulators.
“If this alleged pronouncement is untrue, PharmAccess Ghana is to ensure that the article is retracted and an unqualified apology rendered to the various stakeholders as such publications have the tendency to engender lack of confidence in the healthcare delivery system especially the pharmaceutical sector.
Whilst the PSGH lauds PharmAccess for the various initiatives to improve on the delivery of healthcare in Ghana, it wishes to caution that such sweeping pronouncements, if indeed true, should be avoided in the future as we all work towards ensuring access to safe, effective, affordable and quality medicines for our people,” the statement said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri