A pharmacist, Mr George Hedidor, has advised the public to guide against the wrong usage of antibiotics as it compounds the severity of illness.
He explained that it is not every disease that must be treated with antibiotics, while people should not pass their antibiotics to others people who suffer similar illnesses may have different bodily systems.
Mr Hedidor, a member of the National Drug Information Resource Centre, in Accra, therefore, advised sick individuals to seek treatment from health institutions and refrain from the practice of self-medication through unprofessional advice.
He was addressing a workshop, at organized by the ReAct Civil Society and other affiliate health NGOs with the African Women International as facilitators, at Fijai. The workshop was to trainers of trainers from different communities of the Western Region.
On the theme: “Fighting Antibiotics Resistance in Ghana”, the participants are expected to create awareness on the responsible usage of antibiotics in the communities for them to dispel the myth and misconception about the drug.
Mr Hedidor, who is also the Coordinator for the ReAct Project-Ghana, said the wrong usage of antibiotics often leads to resistance to the drug, becoming ineffective against the treatment of diseases with adverse consequences for the patient.
The Pharmacist said too much use of antibiotic, especially the un-prescribed ones, had the tendency to destroy the good bacteria in the body system, explaining that every medicine could become a potential poison.
He said Ghana’s laws allowed health institutions and trained people to prescribe antibiotics as they had the expertise in the proper storage, safety and quality of the source; hence the classification of the pharmacy shops to sell particular drugs.
Some of the participants said they had previously mixed antibiotics with palm wine to treat syphilis and gonorrhea, while most of them said they used the powdered antibiotics to treat sores, which worked for them.
Mrs Patience Hinson, Project Coordinator of the African Women International (AWI), organizers of the workshop, said research conducted by the NGO in the communities shows that there is indiscriminate use of antibiotics as people use it for concoctions to treat all ailments, regardless of the consequence.
As a result the AWI partnered other health NGOs to hold the workshop for the trainers for them to train others on the responsible use of antibiotics.
