The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with medicine regulatory agencies and non-governmental organisation is embarking on a medicine safety monitoring campaign, dubbed: “#MedSafetyWeek” campaign from the sixth to the 12th of November, 2023. 

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency said the purpose of the safety monitoring was to gain more information about known side effects and find out about new ones. 

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of reporting side effects of medicines. 

It is on the theme: “Who can report”. 

It will focus on the key role of every patient, caregiver, doctor, nurse, and pharmacist, who reports a side effect and contributes to medicine safety. 

The statement said the continuous collection and monitoring of information from the reports received would help the FDA identify risks associated with medicines to enable the appropriate regulatory action to be taken to improve medicine safety. 

“The FDA emphasises the importance of reporting side effects by using reporting forms available in healthcare facilities and community pharmacies designated as patient safety centres or by using the Med Safety App”, the statement said. 

The Med Safety Application is an electronic reporting tool that is convenient and easy to use. 

It is freely available on the App Store or Google Play Store. 

Individuals are advised to also report to any of the FDA regional offices nationwide for thorough assessment and to determine the right steps to be taken to protect public health and safety. 

Over the years, the FDA has processed a number of reports in which patients, caregivers and health professionals played key roles in making the reports available. 

It encouraged every citizen to contribute to safer medicines by identifying and reporting side effects.