Pharmacy industry in Ghana is too business-oriented - Dr. Vera Asante

Vice president of Ghanaian Pharmacist Association North America Dr. Vera Dannsa Asante has described Ghana’s pharmacy industry as business-focused rather than patient-centred.

According to her, pharmacists in various localities are the first point of contact hence the need for them to be human-focused.

Speaking to Dentaa Amoateng on the Odana Network, Dr Asante advised medical professionals to put humans before money.

“I fight with my staff all the time in Ghana you know. When I want to do certain things they go like madam that is not how things are done here etc. I am more patient-centred.

"I feel like the pharmacists in the community are the first health care workers that you see when you feel sick and we have turned our profession into business. I am trying to get people to change the narrative and it is an uphill battle”, she said.

The pharmacist also made a general call to Ghanaians in the diaspora to come home and help build a Ghana that works for all.

“We need more diasporans with various professions here because together we can all change the narrative of how things are working. You know it has been done in the west and it is working so why can’t we make it work here too, she quizzed.

Dr. Vera Dannsa Asante holds a doctor of pharmacy degree from Virginia Commonwealth University/Medical College of Virginia.

She has been practising Pharmacy for about 19 years now and currently the owner and CEO of Wellcheck Wholesale and Compounding Pharmacy.

Dr. Asante is also the co-founder of Ghana Infants and Children Mortality Foundation – a non-profit to reduce infant, children, and maternal mortality in Ghana.

Currently, she is the Vice president of the Ghanaian Pharmacist Association North America (GPhA -NA) and a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (Psgh).