Ghana is seriously challenged with drug resistance with most of the antibiotics being used to treat infections in people becoming less efficacious, Mr Rojo Mettle Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health (MOH) said on Thursday.

The situation is compounded by the issue of cheap and fake drugs being sold on the open market and many people ignorantly patronizing them, the Deputy Minister stated during the inauguration of the first ever Council of the Ghana College of Pharmacists in Accra.

Mr Mettle Nunoo urged the 11-member Council to partner the Food and Drugs Board to help eliminate fake drugs from the Ghanaian market, stressing that: “The health of our people is no safer with these fake drugs around”.

The Council chaired by Mr Kwabena Akurang Ohene-Manu, an Entrepreneur includes Professor Emeritus Kwame Sarpong, an elected member of Foundation Fellow and Professor Theophilus C. Fleischer, Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

Others are Prof Anna Lartey, Food Scientist; Ms Frederica Salla Illiasu, Attorney General’s Representative; Mrs Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceutical Services, MOH; Mr Joseph Kodjo Nsiah Nyoagbe, Registrar of Pharmacy Council; Mr James Ohemeng Kyei, a Representative of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana; and Dr Yaw Adu Gyamfi, an Industrialist.

The Council was established by Act 833 which mandates the Council to promote specialized training in pharmacy and related disciplines, promote continuous professional development in pharmacy and related disciplines, promote research in pharmaceutical practice and related disciplines.

It is also mandated to contribute to the formulation of policies on sound health, medicine and public health.

Mr Mettle Nunoo said the Council was the first to be established in Africa apart from the Regional body of West African Post-graduate College of Pharmacist, and that a lot was being required of it to serve as a good example for other African countries.

He said the country through the Council was being looked up to lead the way in research, manufacturing of plant medicine products that would feed into drugs.

He mentioned the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) as one of the major partners that was looking up to Ghana to lead in drug manufacturing in Africa.

Mr Nunoo advised the Council to promote professionalism, public-private cooperation and networking to ensure excellence in the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr Ohene-Manu, the Council Chair thanked the government for appointing the team to oversee the industry and asked government to continue to support the Council to carry out its mandate more effectively.

On behalf of the Council members, the Chairman pledged to work assiduously to meet the Constitutional mandate set for them.

Members of the Council took the oath of office after which the chairman swore the oath of secrecy. The Council has a three-year mandate.