A Health Analyst, Samuel Arthur, has said the implementation of Vice President Bawumia’s promise for a National Scale E-Pharmacy in Ghana will be difficult if the needed infrastructure is not in place
According to him, Ghana currently has poor systems such as poor internet connectivity, the non-availability of drugs coupled with other essentials that make Ghana lack the capacity for a National Scale E-Pharmacy project to be rolled out successfully.
“Ghana lacks the structures we need on the ground to ensure that we are able to deliver health services to the people including dispensing drugs. Structures like how many pharmacies…that have all essential drugs that people need once they go to the facility,” he quizzed on Starr Midday News.
Mr Arthur said the government must also focus on putting in good shape the health facilities across the country.
Background
Ghana is set to become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to have a national scale E-Pharmacy and one of only a few countries in the world with a national scale E-pharmacy, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed.
This would involve the digitization of pharmacies across the country and enable consumers to have access to a wider scale of pharmacies in their quest to purchase medicines while giving regulators to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of drugs being purchased.
Speaking on the theme “TRANSFORMING AN ECONOMY THROUGH DIGITALIZATION- THE GHANA STORY” on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, at the Ashesi University, Berekuso, Vice President Bawumia said the introduction of digitization in the sale and regulation of drugs formed part of President Akufo-Addo’s vision to make life better and government services more accessible to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Consumers will also be able to order the drug and pay for it on the phone through mobile money or GhQR (Scan and Pay), etc. The medicines are then delivered to the customers at home through a courier service.
As well, “The E-Pharmacy will enable Ghana to address the issue of drug abuse. Those prescribed controlled medicines like Tramadol for example will only be given a one-time CODE sent via SMS (once the prescription is uploaded) to use at the pharmacy. The e-pharmacy platform will also check fake or counterfeit medicines because the platform will be linked to the FDA which will monitor the batch numbers of all products in real-time. Any drug for which the FDA does not have a batch number will be classified as fake.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
