Pharmaceutical Society asks government to settle GH¢1.2 billion debt
The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) has called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, release funds for the payment of GH¢1.2 billion owed its members and other service providers in the pharmaceutical industry.
Advertisement
It said the high level of indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to its members was crippling their businesses.
The leadership of the society, led by its President, Thomas Boateng Appiagyei, made the call when they paid a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the Flagstaff House, last Wednesday.
For his part, the Vice-President of the Society, Dr Kofi Abu, identified four major areas that were of concern to members and required urgent attention from government.
NHIS
On the NHIS and its sustainability, he said it was the view of members that the government needed to create a body made up of experts, the Health and Finance ministries and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), to build the NHIS into a viable model in the next four years.
He also talked about the local manufacture of pharmaceuticals and entreated the President to, as a matter of urgency, put in place a system that would work towards making the country the hub of pharmaceutical manufacturing for West Africa and ultimately Africa.
Regulation of pharmaceuticals
The PSGH called for the issue of regulation of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals that had been a huge challenge in the country in recent years to be tackled once and for all.
It, therefore, called on the President to adequately resource the Pharmacy Council and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), to effectively deliver on that mandate.
GHOSPA’s challenges
The team, which also included members of the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA), talked about issues associated with their migration to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and their conditions of service.
Members of GHOSPA told the President that they remained the only professional group within the health sector which was without codified conditions of service.
They, therefore, appealed to President Akufo-Addo, to make the Health, Labour and Finance ministries to deal with the matter once and for all.
President’s response
In response, President Akufo-Addo gave an assurance to the PSGH and GHOSPA that he would give attention to all the issues they had presented to him.
He added that the Minister of Health who was present at the meeting would be tasked to attend to their grievances and assured them that the challenges they had tabled were of concern to him and his government because of the important role the two groups played in the lives of the citizenry.