Players in the health sector are being urged to adopt technology in sourcing medication directly from manufacturers.
This is one of the means to deal with counterfeit and substandard drugs, which is killing thousands in Africa.
Managing Director of mPharma-Ghana, Emmanuel Agyei, said vigilance of professionals in the sector and adoption of modern tools are relevant in dealing with the counterfeit medicine market.
The World Health Organisation is estimating a global market worth of $200 billion for fake drugs, with Africa alone accounting for 42 per cent of the quantity.
Fake medication for malaria and pneumonia alone kills 250,000 children.
Mr Agyei proposed linking manufacturers directly to hospitals and pharmacies is an assured means of dealing with the problem.
“We run a network of pharmacies using a digital platform to enhance the efficiency of delivering quality drugs to all these pharmacies. We want to create that network which is a platform to negotiate with big pharma manufacturers to procure quality drugs and supply them across Africa.
“Price of medication in Africa is also high, so by using the platform, we can monitor data we collect on different products across different demographics to help enhance the delivery of quality drugs at an affordable price as well,” he explained.
In expanding technology in the country, the company donated a server costing over $20,000 to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Hospital.
This is to support their efforts to digitize their hospital management information system and make their health care delivery paperless and improve efficiency.
Head of the Hospital, Dr Osei Kwaku Wusu-Ansah, explained that technology has become essential in modern health delivery.
“Medicine has always been a conservative practice; however, we can’t run away from IT, it helps improve our services, documentation, data, and the science we use to apply on our patience.”
