Ghana targets reduced medicine imports under new pharmaceutical policy

Presidential Coordinator for the Ghana Pharmaceutical Hub, Dr. Bernice Makafui Brempong, announced on Wednesday that Ghana aims to decrease medicine imports by implementing a new pharmaceutical policy. This strategy is crucial for enhancing health security and decreasing reliance on imports. The policy, endorsed by the Cabinet, provides a strategic framework addressing various challenges such as financing, infrastructure, raw materials, skills, and investment incentives.

Dr. Brempong emphasized that this milestone is pivotal in positioning Ghana as Africa's pharmaceutical manufacturing hub. While her predecessor's administration provided financial support to local companies, the new approach under President John Dramani Mahama's second term emphasizes building a comprehensive ecosystem for manufacturers.

The Ghana Pharmaceutical Hub, a presidential initiative, focuses on creating shared infrastructure, reliable infrastructure, skilled professionals, access to markets, strong regulatory systems, and a predictable business environment. Dr. Brempong highlighted that Phase 2 of the Hub will be established in the Central Region and will concentrate on active pharmaceutical ingredients, herbal and plant-based medicines, raw materials, packaging, and a bioavailability and bioequivalence studies center.

The Hub will also produce excipients, such as pharmaceutical-grade corn starch, corn syrup, and ethyl alcohol, linking agriculture to pharmaceutical manufacturing. Additionally, it will promote contract manufacturing for companies unable to afford their own plants, creating job opportunities for approximately 1,600 unemployed pharmacists in industrial pharmacy.

Dr. Brempong stressed that success will be measured by the number of factories established, investments attracted, medicines produced, jobs created, and the competitiveness of local manufacturers. She called for collaboration from pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions, healthcare institutions, and development partners, urging a shift from policy to implementation, ambition to investment, and dependency to greater domestic productive capacity.

Dr. Brempong emphasized that this initiative extends beyond medicine production, aiming to create employment, attract investment, advance innovation, and strengthen Ghana's healthcare system.