President says 8-month salary arrears of pharmacy house officers will be paid

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG) that the eight-month salary arrears of the 203 Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D) house officers will be paid soon.

“I have instructed the Minister of Finance, and Minister of Health to work together to urgently pay these young men and women. I assure you that it is being addressed,” he said.

Government would ensure that adequate number of pharmacists were employed into the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health in the coming months for safe and rational use of medicines.

President Akufo-Addo said this in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, the Northern Regional Minister, at the opening of the PSG’s 2022 Annual General Meeting in Tamale.

The AGM brought together pharmacists and partners in the health sector across the country to deliberate on matters affecting the Society and pharmaceutical practices.

The week-long programme is on the theme: “Optimising the Pharmaceutical Workforce in a Rapidly Evolving World”.

The President said the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry would actively promote Ghana’s pharmaceutical manufacturing industry and products within the West African Sub-region and advocate the removal of barriers to intra-regional trade as far as pharmaceutical products were concerned.

He acknowledged the role of pharmacists in economic development and called on the PSG and the Ghana College of Pharmacists to create more avenues for advanced learning and training of specialist pharmacists to meet the challenges of the changing times.

The profession continued to expand to include complex roles and responsibilities, hence the need for advanced learning and training, he said.

Source: GNA