Korle Bu, PSG mark World Pharmacists Day
The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) marked this year’s World Pharmacists Day over the weekend with a health outreach at Korle-Gonno in Accra.
The event, which was organised by the Department of Pharmacy of the hospital in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, attracted people from the Korle-Gonno township and surrounding communities.
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The organisers gave free healthcare advice on different topics and advised the participants to consult qualified pharmacists for their health needs.
They also distributed face masks, hand sanitisers and some over the counter medications to the people.
The Director of Pharmacy of KBTH, Dr. Daniel Ankrah, said the event, which formed part of the hospital’s community mobilisation activities, was aimed at getting the public to see the teaching hospital as a partner in healthcare delivery.
He said the interaction between the pharmacists and the community members would enable the community to appreciate the work of pharmacists and build public trust.
Interactions
“We are supposed to have an interaction with our communities, and talk about what we can do for them. The closest communities around us are Mamprobi, Chorkor, Odododiodio and surrounding areas, so we decided to reach out to them today. This is our way of giving back to our community so they would know we are partners in the healthcare arena,” he said.
Dr. Ankrah said the event was also to create a platform for them to educate the communities on basic ailments such as worm infestation.
“Worm infestation has serious effects on children, and so for children above two, we are ensuring that they take the dewormers here. The older people have theirs packed together with hand sanitisers and face masks.”
Serving society
The President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Mr. Samuel Kow Donkoh, also underscored the importance of the event and the need to “bring pharmacy closer to the population”.
He said he believed that on such a day, it was imperative to educate the public on the work of pharmacists and their contribution to healthcare delivery and the general well-being of citizens.
Mr. Donkor said there would be a significant improvement in the general health outcome in the country if such platforms were created for the public to interact with health experts.
“We try to let them know that we are available and we have services to offer, as well as knowledge on how to use medication so they should not shy away from their pharmacists, especially in the rational use of medicines,” he said.
“Health outreach programmes bring out a lot because we see patients with diseases who but for the event, would not visit a medical professional to seek help,” he said.
