Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II says Ghana’s quest for quality healthcare hinges on deliberate investment by government into training and deploying pharmacists nationwide.
The Asantehene believes no health system can effectively run in the absence of well-versed and properly utilized pharmaceutical workforce, as he stressed the role pharmacists play in quality healthcare delivery.
Addressing the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana in Kumasi, Otumfuo further admonished the health workers to live by tenets of their professional responsibilities for safe and effective drug use.
As part of activities commemorating its 90-year anniversary, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana held a celebratory forum on Pharmacy education in Ghana.
The event dubbed the Professor Tackie RxEdu Forum, assembled members and students of the pharmaceutical profession to reflect on the evolution of Pharmacy education in the country.
The forum was held on the theme: “90 Years of Science, Impact, and Legacy: Repositioning Pharmacy for the Future”.
Reflecting on the theme, Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II admonished the health professionals to discharge their duties in accordance with the dictates of the profession for quality healthcare delivery.
“Do not compromise on quality in the name of expansion. To pharmacists across the country, your relevance will be defined by your value to the patients. You must position yourselves not only as dispensers of medicine but as experts of safe, effective, and rational use of medicines in our health system,” Otumfuo noted.
The Asantehene re-echoed the essence of deliberate investment by the government into the pharmaceutical sector.
“No health system can function effectively without the strong, well-trained and properly utilised pharmaceutical workforce. Investments in healthcare must include deliberate attention to the development and deployment of pharmacists across all levels of care,” he said.
President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr. (Pharm) Paul Owusu Donkor elaborated the indispensable role of pharmacists in healthcare.
He maintained that members must not compromise in the delivery of efficacious drug use and comprehensive healthcare delivery.
“At no point will pharmacists compromise on the safe and efficacy of the medicines that we dispense and deliver to Ghanaians. We continue to call on all Ghanaian pharmacists that we continue to give the utmost of care,” he noted.
Dr. (Pharm) Owusu Donkor further stated that: “As we commemorate our 90th anniversary, we call on the government, and the general public to continue to recognize the indispensable role of pharmacists in health care”.
The night also saw the conferment of special recognitions to pioneers and members including Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson, who have exceptionally contributed to the profession and led exemplarily.
