280 Pharmacists Inducted

The Pharmacy Council has supervised the induction of newly qualified and registered pharmacists from major tertiary institutions in the country.

Retired Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Anarfi Asamoah-Baah who was the Special Guest of Honour, called on the health professionals to place importance of the personalities of patients.

He advised that pharmacists desist from characterizing patients by their medical complications.

According to him, it is a bad practice which must be completely shunned in the bid to maintain trust and openness between a patient and the professional.

Speaking at the Induction Ceremony held in Accra, yesterday, Dr. Asamoah-Baah, said, “don’t call someone with diabetes as the diabetic man or woman.”

To reframe from such unprofessional practice, the former WHO director noted that every health professional must take time to study human behavior in its entirety and make people the centre of their thinking.

Highlighting the theme for the celebration― “Universal Health Coverage: The Role of Pharmacy Education,” Dr. Asamoah-Baah stressed that, in achieving Universal Health Coverage, nobody must be left out.

“We must aim at covering everyone―the young, the old, the rich and the poor…we must not only be interested in the population in Accra or Kumasi…universal health coverage means 100%…80% is not good enough when it comes to universal health coverage.

“Unless the majority of the population is healthy, we cannot be a productive nation, and nobody wants to be amongst the sick minority,” he added.

Dr. Asamoah-Baah further charged the newly inducted pharmacists to saddle up for the challenges that awaits them in the future.

According to him, Ghana’s health needs are changing and added that, the health needs have evolved from acute infection diseases to the management of chronic diseases.

For this reason, Dr. Asamoah- Baah noted that society in the future would be obsessed with medicines.

“Pharmacists will never be out of business…more and more of our population will need medicines to survive…the use of medicines will increase but with this increase will also be the increase in the misuse and abuse of medicines and pharmacists must learn to manage this future challenge,” he noted.

Induction

The Chairperson for the Pharmacy Council, Mrs. Doris Addae- Afoakwa, led the pharmacists to swear the Apothecary’s Oath which charged pharmacists to obey all laws governing the practice of Pharmacy.

In all, 280 newly qualified and registered pharmacists were inducted into the noble profession.

Amongst the inductees were 130 graduates of the Professional Doctors of Pharmacy Programme (PharmD)―the first batch after its institutionalization in 2012.

The inductees were from the University of Ghana, KNUST, Central University and others from the diaspora.

Four awards were presented to deserving pharmacists who excelled in the Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examinations (GPPQE).

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]