Accra (Greater Accra), 7th May ?99 -

The Ghana National Drugs Programme (GNDP) office which is to ensure that people have access to effective, safe and affordable good quality drugs was on Thursday commissioned in Accra with a pledge that the government will improve the supply of drugs.

Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health, who commissioned the 150,000-dollar renovated building, said the ministry had over the years been striving to improve the pharmaceutical sector.

However, success had been limited because activities were planned in an ad-hoc fashion resulting in a number of scattered and uncoordinated activities.

He said problems that were identified were irrational use of drugs, absence of a functional system to ensure good quality and safety of drugs, inadequate financial mechanisms, procurement, storage and distributions of drugs.

"The GNDP was, therefore, established as the pharmaceutical component of the Medium Term Health Strategy of the Ministry of Health to address drug use in the public and the private sector in a coordinated manner''.

Mr Nuamah Donkor said the programme will promote the rational use of drugs, ensure that only safe and effective drugs are sold on the market, improve the system of financing, procurement, supply and management at all levels to support decentralisation.

The programme, which commenced in 1997, had a total of nine million dollars assistance from the Dutch government to be disbursed over a five-year period.

The minister advised the staff to work as team to transform the pharmaceutical sector to meet the needs of the people.

Mr Alexander Heldring, Netherlands Ambassador, noted that changes are under way for the budget management committees at all levels to include GNDP-related activities in their annual plans.

He urged the ministry to fit this idea into their current policies and arrangements, saying "this will let the benefits in terms of efficiency gains and ownership be substantial."