The Dr. Oku Ampofo symposium of the Centre for the for Plant Medicine Research was under the theme ““Health and Wealth; moving towards a Ghana beyond aid”[/caption]
Government is calling on the Center for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) to reconsider the processes of registering herbal medicines by removing the barriers that discourage prospective practitioners from registering their products.
Addressing the Dr. Oku Ampofo Symposium of CPMR in Accra, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said the plant medicine industry has high potential benefits which includes job creation and export revenue.
Themed ‘Health and Wealth; Moving Towards a Ghana Beyond Aid’, the Symposium saw the Information Minister expressing belief that the industry will be instrumental to the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.
“For you as researchers in plant medicine, it is important to first assess how your biggest asset, herbal medicine, can be used to drive this agenda,” he said.
The Minister observed there is a huge potential for herbal medicine in the country but expressed worry that some risks which include wrong dosages and untested medicines associated with the industry must be managed well.
“For the enormous potential benefits that Ghana stands to gain if we are to succeed in boosting plant medicine, these risks I have just outlined have the potential to undermine the industry if we don’t attend to them,” he noted.
Way forward
The Minister called on the Centre, the academy and industry players including the Food and Drugs Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority to partner central government in efforts to mitigate the risks associated with the industry.
He charged the Centre to step up public education campaigns on the risks.
He further urged all industry players to get their various products tested and certified.
“We also have to step up pharmocovigilance in the plant medicine space so that the unwholesome ones do not create a bad image for the entire industry.”
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