Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, has promised to make Ghana a pharmaceutical hub in West Africa by providing financial support and incentives to the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture medicines locally, under his administration. 

He pledged to implement policy frameworks to make the industry buoyant and beneficial to Ghanaians. 

Currently, about 70 per cent of Ghana’s medicine supply is imported. 

During an interaction with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana in Accra, on Thursday, to listen and respond to their concerns, Dr Bawumia said Ghana had a comparative advantage in pharmaceutical services in the Sub-region and would exploit it positively under his administration. 

The NPP flagbearer also agreed with the Society’s proposal for the establishment of a fit-for-purpose training centre for training pharmaceutical specialists. 

Dr Bawumia called for the re-direction of government scholarships to much-needed skills and believed that sponsoring pharmacists to specialise was essential to the nation. 

He also embraced the idea of establishing a pharmaceutical enclave or park to boost the manufacturing of essential medicines locally. 

On tax incentives for the pharmaceutical sector, the Vice President reiterated his earlier pledge to implement tax reliefs for individuals and businesses under his administration as well as flat tax rate and lower import duty to boost business transactions. 

The NPP presidential candidate also welcomed the idea of reviewing the medicine list of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) every six months to bring new medicines on board. 

Dr Bawumia used the forum to highlight some of the policies the Akufo-Addo-led government had implemented in the health sector, including an e-pharmacy platform that enabled people to purchase medicines online and Zipline medical drone technology for quick delivery of essential medicines and blood products to remote areas. 

Earlier, Dr Samuel Kow Donkoh, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, had appealed to the NPP Flagbearer to consider making Community Pharmacies a primary health-care centre to undertake diagnosis and treatment of certain ailments. 

He said the government should take immediate steps to recruit pharmacists into the public sector since there had not been any recruitment of pharmacists in the past three years. 

Dr Donkoh also pleaded to Dr Bawumia to consider sponsoring specialist pharmacists to improve their skills if elected as President of the Republic. 

He asked the NPP flagbearer to consider implementing contract manufacturing pharmaceutical companies to enable Ghanaian pharmaceutical firms to expand the production of medicines domestically. 

Members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana were also given the opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions and propose solutions to the challenges facing the sector.