A survey conducted by the Pharmacy Council from March to May this year, has revealed that some private pharmacy shops in five regions have been selling anti-malarial drugs for more than 200 per cent of the approved price. The respondents involved 808 pharmacies and licensed chemical shops across the country. Out of the number, 671, representing 83 per cent, were licensed chemical sellers shops and 137, constituting 17 per cent, were pharmacies. The survey, based on the co-paid Affordable Medicine Facility for Malaria (AMfm), was conducted by the Government of Ghana, together with the Global Fund, which subsidises anti-malarial drugs so that they are sold at GH¢1.50p for adult dosage and even lower for children. The objectives of the survey were to, among other things, determine the proportion of pharmacists and licensed chemical sellers who were aware of AMfm; to observe retail prices of co-paid Artemisinim-based combination therapies (ACTs); and to identify the proportion of pharmacists and licensed chemical sellers trained within the past one year on malaria. The co-paid anti-malaria drugs are ACTs, embossed with a green leaf for easy recognition, which have been highly subsidised by the government and the Global Fund, to help expand access to affordable anti-malarial drugs to save lives and reduce the use of inappropriate treatments such as chloroquine for malaria. At a dissemination forum in Accra organised by the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), the Pharmacy Council explained that some pharmacies and licensed chemical shops in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Volta, Northern and the Upper West regions were selling the ACTs for as high as GH¢5.00 for adult drugs and GH¢4.00 for children's drugs. A representative from the council, Mr Daniel A. Danquah, who made known the findings, said the affected shops had so far been implored to stick to the approved prices. According to him, it was discovered that the price hikes came about because most of the distributors, from whom the retailers bought the ACTs, did not source their drugs from the right channels, which consequently caused an increase in the prices. He said of the 808 private pharmacies and licensed chemical facilities across a minimum of four districts that were sampled to ascertain the pricing, distribution and the knowledge of dispensers on the ACTs, it was discovered that 65 per cent of the facilities were still selling mono therapies such as chloroquine, artesunate, artemether, dihydroartemisinin and sulfadoxinepyrimethamine (SP), although the country was presently recommending the use of ACTs in the treatment of malaria. The results of the survey also indicated that of the 808 respondents, 75 per cent were aware of the AMfm initiative and the co-paid ACTs. It was also found that the most preferred ACTs for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria was Arthemether-Lumfantrine (AL), followed by Artesunate-Amodiaquine (AA). The Deputy Programmes Manager of the NMCP, Dr Keziah Maim, gave the update of AMFm and said the country was undertaking the first phase of the programme with supporting interventions which included the monitoring of pharmacies and licensed chemical seller outlets on malaria case management, availability of ACTs in general and particularly co-paid ACTs and their prices. She said the AMFm facility, which would elapse in December, 2012, would determine whether the Global Fund and the government would continue making ACTs affordable for the general public. Dr Kerziah said the extension of the programme to other countries would depend largely on its progress in the area of pricing and availability, saying that if at the end the evaluation it showed that AMFm was able to stop the use of monotherapies, it would then be rolled out in other countries. The acting Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Frank Nyonator, called on all stakeholders to help ensure that the AMFm facility became a success in the country. When reached for his comments, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr Alex Dodoo, stated that much as the society did not support what some of its members were doing, their action could not be said to be illegal. He explained that the global agency [the Global Fund] realising that some patients could not pay for the price of anti-malarial drugs, decided to subsidise the prices. Dr Dodoo noted that the Global Fund paid the manufacturers of anti-malarial drugs 95 per cent of the price so that pharmacies and chemical shops could sell the drugs at five per cent of the price. By calculation, he said, the drugs were sup¬posed to be sold at GH¢ 1.50 as the recommended price. Dr Dodoo added that since the subsidised price was only a recommended price, it could not be said that such a price was legal and binding.