Solid training cause of exodus of pharmacists

A private pharmacist on Saturday attributed the exodus of Ghanaian trained pharmacists abroad to the solid foundation given them by the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

Mr Kwabena A. Ohene-Manu, Managing Director of Oyster Health Care Limited, said such a broad-based training enables Ghanaian trained pharmacists to branch into other areas such as cosmetics and soaps/detergents production.

Delivering the sixth in a series of lectures as part of the KNUST's Golden Jubilee Inter-Faculty Lectures held by the Faculty of Pharmacy at the weekend, he said the basic Bachelor of Pharmacy degree programme offered By the Faculty gives such a solid foundation to its graduates that they easily qualify to practise pharmacy in other countries.

Mr Ohene-Manu noted that since its inception in 1964, the Faculty of Pharmacy had produced 1,445 pharmacists but expressed regret that "only about 1,000 of them are in the country with the remaining lost to the Diaspora". He said: "Although we have lost the remaining to the Diaspora, I believe they are still making significant contributions towards advancement of Ghana."

Mr Ohene-Manu who is also the chairman of the Ghana Chapter of the West African Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists, was speaking on "The Impact of Pharmacy on National Development".