Kumasi, Oct. 31, GNA - The National Centre for Pharmacovigilance of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has recorded 400 cases of adverse drug reactions from members of the public since its establishment in 2001. It had also received 1,300 reports of suspected adverse drug reactions from the public within the same period.

Dr Alex Dodoo, acting Director of the Centre for Tropical Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (CTCPT), University of Ghana Medical School, said these at a pharmacovigilance meeting of doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals in Kumasi on Thursday. The meeting, which was organised by the Food and Drugs Board in collaboration with CTCPT, was under the theme: "Pharmacovigilance and the healthcare professional".

Dr Dodoo said the reported cases involved various drugs and medicines prescribed in health institutions and some herbal drugs. He said with such a high number of reported cases, there was the need to create awareness among health professionals to enable them to keep records on adverse drug reactions and monitor them.

Dr Jacob Plange Rhule, President of the Ghana Medical Association, said with the influx of various drugs, some of which had severe side effects, it was important for health professionals to mount a systematic surveillance to determine the side effects of drugs.

He said drugs prescribed to patients were supposed to be safe, efficacious and serve the purpose of which they was given.

Professor Ralph Edwards, Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborative Centre for International Drug Monitoring in Uppsala, Sweden, asked health professionals to be vigilant in administering drugs to patients due to the level of suffering and amount of money spent in the management of adverse drug reactions

Mr E.K. Agyarko, Chief Executive of the FDB, announced that a drug quality assurance centre would soon be establish at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to monitor drug reactions in the Ashanti and the northern sector of the country.