President John Atta Mills
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16th August, 2010
Some NHIS Claims Too Much - Prez
President Mills says the 54 per cent of payment made by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) on the cost of medicine for clients under the National Health Insurance Scheme is unsustainable.
"This high expenditure on medicines alone poses a major threat to the sustainability of our National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)," he said in a speech read on his behalf at the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGh) in Kumasi.
President Mills, who was represented by Mr Robert Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, said a monitoring exercise undertaken by the NHIA revealed high prevalence of prescriptions of antibiotics, especially expensive brands of the drug and pain killers.
The highlight of the five-day event was the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship, the highest award of the society on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is also the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
The celebration, being held on the theme: "PSGh at 75: Celebrating the contributions of Pharmacists to National Development," would include an annual general meeting and a dinner awards ceremony.
The president said some pharmacies and chemical sellers’ shops had also been involved in fraudulent practices, making it necessary for government to change the current prescription form in use.
"Fortunately,” he said, “The sixth edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List for Ghana are now available. "I would urge the PSGh to take an active interest in the dissemination of these two documents and to be involved in the orientation of service providers on the use of these documents"
The two documents have set out the standards for stocking and use of medicines at the various levels of the health care delivery system and for the management of the individual patient.
President Mills asked PSGH to lead the way in making Ghana the centre for the production and export of pharmaceuticals.
"The Pharmaceutical industry is of national strategic importance in all countries and I am determined to ensure that the industry in Ghana will take its rightful place in securing for us all needed essential medicines."
Dr Alexander Dodoo, President of the PSGh, said the NHIS could not be successful without pharmacists, explaining that the majority of patients and more than 90 per cent of health conditions are managed by the professional body.
The society, he said, was anxious about the capitation policy by the NHIA and stressed the need for wider consultations with stakeholders before piloting it.
"Even though the policy may be well-meaning, it can seriously jeopardise the stable pharmaceutical environment… and can adversely affect the NHIS. We are willing and ready to work with government to ensure that patients, government and the health service get the best as far as medicines are concerned."
Dr Dodoo expressed worry that pharmacists were completely ignored in laws promulgated to govern their profession, saying some components did not reflect the views, wishes and essential views of the whole body of pharmacy.
To meet the global changing trend, he said student to be enrolled for pharmacy course from 2011/2012 academic year, would undertake Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D) programme to equip them with competencies that would make them experts in medicines.
Madam Clavenda Bright-Parker, Ambassador at Large and Special Envoy of the President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, said new challenges in the treatment of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis called for innovative research methods to reverse the trend.
She asked pharmacists to be at the forefront in the fight against counterfeit drugs.
Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, out-going Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, expressed the hope that the society's anniversary would provide the needed platform for deliberations that would streamline pharmaceutical practice in Ghana.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, conferment attracted cheers when he thrilled the crowd with his light-hearted remark that as an honorary fellow of the PSGH nobody could bully him with pharmaceutical terminologies.
The Asantehene spoke against the proliferation of fake drugs in the country and urged pharmacists to lead the crusade against the practice.
A citation that accompanied his conferment described him as an "Ambassador of peace and diplomat par excellence," who has brought innovation to the chieftaincy institution.
"This high expenditure on medicines alone poses a major threat to the sustainability of our National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)," he said in a speech read on his behalf at the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGh) in Kumasi.
President Mills, who was represented by Mr Robert Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health, said a monitoring exercise undertaken by the NHIA revealed high prevalence of prescriptions of antibiotics, especially expensive brands of the drug and pain killers.
The highlight of the five-day event was the conferment of an Honorary Fellowship, the highest award of the society on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who is also the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
The celebration, being held on the theme: "PSGh at 75: Celebrating the contributions of Pharmacists to National Development," would include an annual general meeting and a dinner awards ceremony.
The president said some pharmacies and chemical sellers’ shops had also been involved in fraudulent practices, making it necessary for government to change the current prescription form in use.
"Fortunately,” he said, “The sixth edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Medicines List for Ghana are now available. "I would urge the PSGh to take an active interest in the dissemination of these two documents and to be involved in the orientation of service providers on the use of these documents"
The two documents have set out the standards for stocking and use of medicines at the various levels of the health care delivery system and for the management of the individual patient.
President Mills asked PSGH to lead the way in making Ghana the centre for the production and export of pharmaceuticals.
"The Pharmaceutical industry is of national strategic importance in all countries and I am determined to ensure that the industry in Ghana will take its rightful place in securing for us all needed essential medicines."
Dr Alexander Dodoo, President of the PSGh, said the NHIS could not be successful without pharmacists, explaining that the majority of patients and more than 90 per cent of health conditions are managed by the professional body.
The society, he said, was anxious about the capitation policy by the NHIA and stressed the need for wider consultations with stakeholders before piloting it.
"Even though the policy may be well-meaning, it can seriously jeopardise the stable pharmaceutical environment… and can adversely affect the NHIS. We are willing and ready to work with government to ensure that patients, government and the health service get the best as far as medicines are concerned."
Dr Dodoo expressed worry that pharmacists were completely ignored in laws promulgated to govern their profession, saying some components did not reflect the views, wishes and essential views of the whole body of pharmacy.
To meet the global changing trend, he said student to be enrolled for pharmacy course from 2011/2012 academic year, would undertake Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm D) programme to equip them with competencies that would make them experts in medicines.
Madam Clavenda Bright-Parker, Ambassador at Large and Special Envoy of the President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, said new challenges in the treatment of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis called for innovative research methods to reverse the trend.
She asked pharmacists to be at the forefront in the fight against counterfeit drugs.
Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, out-going Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, expressed the hope that the society's anniversary would provide the needed platform for deliberations that would streamline pharmaceutical practice in Ghana.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, conferment attracted cheers when he thrilled the crowd with his light-hearted remark that as an honorary fellow of the PSGH nobody could bully him with pharmaceutical terminologies.
The Asantehene spoke against the proliferation of fake drugs in the country and urged pharmacists to lead the crusade against the practice.
A citation that accompanied his conferment described him as an "Ambassador of peace and diplomat par excellence," who has brought innovation to the chieftaincy institution.
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