Live up to your calling – Health Minister to Pharmacists

Deputy Minister for Health, Mrs Tina Gifty Mensah has charged Pharmacists in the country to live up to their professional calling as captured by the motto of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG), “Amicus humani generis,” which meant friends of the human race.

She said this when delivering the keynote address at the induction of 280 newly qualified and registered Pharmacists into the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG) by the Pharmacy Council on Wednesday and congratulated the inductees for their present successes.

The inductees who were from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, Central University, and Universities abroad, had passed the 2016/2017 Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examinations, and had also completed their internships with various affiliated institutions.

The theme for the induction service: “Mobilising Human Capital for Advancement of Pharmaceutical Care in Ghana,” was to stress on the vital role of the profession in delivering care and the need to enhance the requisite human resources for the health sector for national development.

Mrs Tina Gifty Mensah also urged them to be good team players in the healthcare brigade to improve the health outcomes of all Ghanaians.

The theme for the occassion, she noted, was in line with government’s vision of bridging the equity gaps in geographic access to health services.

According to her, the Ministry of health has instructed the Pharmacy Council to design processes to identify ineffective workflows, structures or systems to fit current business, as part of efforts to achieve this objective.

This, she said would build a strong sense of commitment in mobilising the human capital for advancement of pharmaceutical care in Ghana.

Mrs Mensah called for concerted efforts on the part of all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector in ensuring and managing the challenges hindering the advancement of this vital health care delivery.

These, she said, included the need to improve procurement of pharmaceuticals with economies of scale as well as quality assurance, improved analysis and processing of claims by the National Health Insurance Scheme, to impact positively on prescribing and medicine costs.

She expressed hope that the necessary improvements as well as other policy interventions would ensure sustainable access to medicines in view of the current health dynamics.

Source: otecfmghana.com/GNA