[ 2016-06-26 ]

Report adverse medicine side effects – FDA to Ghanaians
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has urged the
public to report adverse effects of medicines to
the nearest health facility or community pharmacy
for prompt action.

Mr. Abu Sumailar, the Western Regional Manager of
FDA, told the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi that
every medicine has some side effects with
unpleasant reactions like nausea, diarrhoea,
dizziness, headache and sometimes deaths.

He said over the years, the FDA had tried to
improve the safety of medicines by receiving
feedback from patients through institutional
contact persons (ICP) in various health
facilities.

However, he said, the feedback had not been
forthcoming, therefore, the Authority decided to
revive it reporting by training physicians,
nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technicians
from selected public and private health facilities
in 15 districts in the Region, in order to improve
healthcare delivery.

He said the training was undertaken by the FDA in
partnership with the Ghana Health Service for
health professionals selected from the
Effia-Nkwanta Regional, Takoradi and, Essikado
Hospitals, Kwesimintsim Polyclinic, as well as
other private health facilities.

The Regional FDA Boss tasked the health
professionals to fill adverse drug reaction forms
for patients whenever they report any side effects
of medicines for onward submission to the
Authority for the necessary action.

He added that the Authority had created Patients
Safety Centres in community pharmacies across the
country and urged the public to take advantage to
report adverse effects of medicines.

He observed that although there is no sanction
for health professionals for wrongful prescription
of medication to patients in Ghana, however, this
could end up in legal tussle in advanced
countries.

Meanwhile, Mr Alfred Dadzie, Clinical Pharmacist
at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, has
advised the public to be vigilant and report any
counterfeit household chemicals, blood and
blood-related products, vaccines, anti-biotics and
cosmetics to the FDA for investigation.

He noted that people react to medicines due to
differences in genetics and, therefore, admonished
breast-feeding mothers and care-givers to report
any abnormal reaction of their babies after every
immunization.

He said the Ghana Health Service has added
pharmacovigilance assessment to its Annual Peer
Preview Mechanism.

Explaining the term pharmacovigilance, he said,
it is the science and activities relating to the
detection, assessment, understanding and
prevention of adverse effects of drugs and other
drug-related problems.

This involves monitoring the effects of medicines
after they had been licensed for use, especially
in order to identify and evaluate previously
unreported adverse reactions.

Source - GNA

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