Six hundred and twenty five (625) Newly Qualified Registered Pharmacists were on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 inducted into the Pharmacy Council of Ghana.
The newly inducted Pharmacists were drawn from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (298), University of Ghana (68), Central University College (202), University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho (30) and Other Institutions (27).
The pharmacists were inducted after qualifying from two cohorts of the Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examination that were conducted in July and December 2022.
The induction ceremony was sponsored by the Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited and the Entrance Pharmaceuticals and Research Centre amongst others.
The theme for the event was,”Digital Health Interventions in Pharmaceutical Care Delivery- The Role of the Pharmacist”.
At the ceremony, some of the newly inducted pharmacists were given awards for working hard and excelling in their various subjects.
Aside from being recognised at the event, all inductees also swore the Apothecary’s oath as part of activities of the induction ceremony.
Speaking at the Induction Ceremony, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Ghana, Dr Audu Rauf urged Pharmacists to deploy digital health technologies to improve medication adherence and reduce medication errors.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital health technologies and has accelerated their adoption and development.
He was also of the view that digital health technologies have shown that they can improve healthcare access, efficiency and quality and can help to reduce healthcare costs.
“As medical technologies change at a rapid pace, we encourage Pharmacists to stay up- to-date with the latest advances in digital health technologies and to collaborate with other healthcare professionals to develop and implement digital solutions that can improve patient outcomes,” he said.
Mr Audu Rauf made it known that the Pharmacy Council was mindful of its crucial role as regulators in facilitating the smooth take-off of digital pharmacies.
As a result, he said the Council has launched the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform to provide safe and effective policy guidelines and regulatory framework to ensure that digital pharmacies adhere to quality standards, including the authenticity and safety of medicines sold online.
Read Also: Tobinco donates medicines worth over 150k to Police Hospital
For her part, the Chairperson of the Governing Board of the Pharmacy Council Ghana, Mrs Doris Fosu-Hemaa Addae-Afoakwa, also urged the newly inductees to embrace digitalisation and also ensure their delivery of service is patient centered.
“Let us take advantage of the digital environment and other emerging technologies and align ourselves well to embrace the opportunities that come within the digital environment in the practice of Pharmacy,” she said.
She added that, “Let us encourage ourselves and update our knowledge on the advances being made with respect to the use of technology in the pharmaceutical sector. This will span all aspects of the practice including clinical practice, drug development, monitoring of adverse drug effects, supply chain management, production and regulation. Remember that pharmaceutical care is the new patient centered and there is the need to learn.”
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
