A Rwandan delegation comprising officials of its Pharmacy Council and other relevant stakeholders are in Ghana to explore bilateral opportunities in the pharmaceutical sector for economic development and public health protection.

The delegation has been meeting with the leadership of the Faculty of Pharmacy at KNUST and the Pharmacy Council of Ghana for prospective collaborations to train more pharmacists in bridging the workforce deficit in Rwanda.

The delegation since arrival has been holding consultative dialogue with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the National Health Insurance Authority for resource mobilization strategies.

According to Permanent Secretary and Registrar for the Rwanda National Pharmacy Council, Jean Damascene Nsengeyukuri, Rwanda is challenged with a huge deficit of pharmacists to patients. 

Rwanda presently has less than 2,000 pharmacists with 12 pharmacy technicians serving the over 12 million population.  

In the light of expanding its workforce, the delegation met with the leadership at the College of Health Sciences to initiate formal collaborations.

“Our pharmacy profession is evolving in the country and due to the vision of the country to become a center of pharmaceutical industries by 2050, as a regulator of the pharmacy profession we decided to make the visit in renowned countries with high level of regulation and in the pharmaceutical sector with a high level of education,” he said.

Mr. Nsenegeyukuri says the collaboration is to safeguard public safety in both countries. 

“The visit has been successful. It aimed at providing public health protection for my country and the vision of the Ghana Pharmacy Council is to become a center of pharmaceutical care providers. Both missions interrelate. Our world is now a global village so collaborations are very necessary to thrive,” he said.

Deputy Registrar, Operations at the Pharmacy Council of Ghana, Dr. Daniel Amaning Danquah, believes the collaboration could help make Africa a leading pharmaceutical hub and avoid importation of drugs from Western countries.

“The continent has the raw materials and many other opportunities to be able to provide medicines locally. You’d realize that most diseases that need medicines to resolve them are here with us on a large scale and we don’t have these high class production facilities to produce the specialized medicines. So, the effort to develop this in Africa is a great opportunity for growth in Africa. It will limit the importation of foreign drugs,” he said.

Delighted about the collaborations, Provost of the College of Health Sciences-KNUST, Prof. Christian Agyare, indicated the partnership would allow formal educational exchanges between the two countries. 

“With the collaboration, it is going to help the faculty in imparting knowledge and experience to the Rwandese pharmacy students. The Rwandese faculty will be coming to our faculty and the college to learn a few things in terms of teaching and research. This is going to help push the institution in Rwanda to a higher level and also the reputation of the University,” he said.