Veep asks WHO to issue license to local drug
manufacturers
Accra, Aug. 3, Ghanadot/GNA – Vice President John
Dramani Mahama on Monday asked the World Health
Organisation (WHO) to overcome setbacks that cause
delays in granting of license to local drug
manufacturing companies.
He noted that there are efficacious
drugs for certain types of diseases which are produced
by local industries but the line of production are being
hampered by WHO’s delay in granting license to them.
Mr. Mahama made this known when he met
a joint delegation of the International Pharmaceutical
Federation (FIP) and the Commonwealth Pharmacists
Association (CPA) who called on him at the Osu Castle on
Monday.
The delegation invited the Vice
President to give the keynote address on Wednesday at a
three-day day conference of the CPA.
Mr. Mahama said the CPA could impress upon the WHO to
streamline its rules on certification, manufacturing and
research since there was a regime of standardization in
Ghana.
He said it was unfortunate that
criminal organisations smuggled expired and dangerous
drugs into the country.
Mr. Mahama expressed regret about the
shortage of qualified pharmacists in the country, which
he said had hampered the dispensing of drugs.
Professor Kamal Midha, President of
the FIP said the duty of a pharmacist found expression
in the fact that “a drug does not become a medicine
until it becomes useful to the patient.”
He said it was important for the
pharmacists to be assisted to upgrade their knowledge
and skills.
GNA
