FDA Trains Health Personnel on Pharmacovigilance

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has trained health personnel from districts in the Eastern Region on how to engage patients to report drug reactions as part of the pharmacovigilance system or medicine safety in Koforidua.

The participants termed as Designated Institutional Contact Persons (ICPS) were drawn from Donkorkrom, Anyinam, Takorase, Osino, Kwabeng, Akoroso, Abirem and Nkurakan Health Centres to be equipped to be able to coordinate medicines safety in their respective facilities.

The Regional FDA Boss, Mr Samuel Kwakye, in the opening remarks said many medicines/ drug reactions passed unnoticed, especially in the rural communities hence the training to equip the contact persons to be able to engage patients to report any adverse reaction on medicines or drugs given them at the facilities.

He observed that as much as medicines and drugs were helpful, they also had side effects which could be harmful to consumers and therefore as part of the pharmacovigilance system, every health facility and pharmacy centre must have a contact person who would collate reports on medicines reaction.

He noted that all such information were channelled back to the manufacturers of the medicines/drugs as an alert to prompt further investigations and analysis to ensure that patients and consumers were fully protected.

Mr Kwakye explained that in line with the pharmacovigilance system, the FDA which is mandated to collate the information and send to the international phamacovigilance centre, needed to have contact persons in every facility to be able to engage patients who took the drugs to report any reaction for redress.

He explained that every medicine\drug reaction was worth investigating because drugs/medicines were chemical compositions and urged the participants to build a rapport with the patients or clients to be able to report back any reactions.

Already the FDA has trained over 50 contact persons in the Region from the various health facilities and pharmacy centres/chemical shops to receive feedbacks on medicines /drugs disbursed to the public.

Source: GNA