Monitor effects of drug uses closely - Quashigah

Accra, June 25, GNA - Major Courage Quarshigah (rtd), Minister of Health on Monday asked health experts to closely monitor effects of anti-malaria drugs, to help identify problems associated with those drugs and the risk patients might suffer after use.

The Minister, in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a pharmacovigilance training workshop in Accra noted that modern medicines were needed to tackle the various conditions, which affected mankind. However, he said society had become such that few people were willing to tolerate any adverse effects of drugs for common conditions such as malaria.

The Minister told the participants drawn from Ghana Nigeria and Tanzania that one of the central themes in the new health paradigm championed by the Ministry of Health was to create wealth through health.

To do this effectively, Major Quashigah said the safety of patients should be paramount to all and urged the participants to share their experiences so that they could adopt guidelines that would benefit all patients.

Dr. Joaquim Saweka, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative, said the recognition that medicines safety monitoring was of utmost importance in the sub region could not be overlooked due to the introduction of new medicines for priority diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Dr Saweka said facts of evidence generated through pharmacovigilance should be effectively communicated so that the public did not loose confidence in the systems put in place to protect their health and well-being.

"Facts should be distinguished from speculation and hypothesis, and actions taken should reflect the needs of those affected and the care they require," he added.

Dr. Alex Dodoo, Acting Director of the Clinical Pharmacology Department, University of Ghana Medical School said the workshop, the first of its kind in Ghana, was to study more advanced problems that may arise in pharmacovigilance.

Dr. Dodoo said during the workshop the participating countries would also develop a protocol that would collect information on adverse drug reactions in the malaria programme.