Pharmacists and pharmaceutical students have been urged to build the necessary skill set, specializations, and creative abilities so they can deliver better healthcare services to the country.
They are also being urged to identify the challenges confronting Ghana’s healthcare system and to find out how technology can be used to address some of these challenges.
The pharmacists and pharmaceutical students received this call during the launch of the 2023 Week celebration of the Students’ Association of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SoPPS) at the University of Cape Coast.
The launch centered on the theme, “Harnessing technology in pharmaceutical service delivery; Opportunity for the next generation pharmacists.”
Addressing the participants at the launch, the Vice president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH), Pharmacist Kwabena Asante Offei ESQ charged pharmacists and student pharmacists to rise above the traditional routine of the profession and to think differently from those traditional assertions.
“When you come out of the pharmacy, there are two things that you can do. You can either work in a community pharmacy you can find a job to do in a hospital, work in the manufacturing industry or you can be a lecturer. Those have been the traditional rules that all of us have been through. But even that, can we think a little bit differently about all the things that we can do differently from those traditional things and that is what entrepreneurship is about. The kind of things that would change the face of pharmaceutical care is not the routine things that we are doing. It is how differently we think about the routine things “, he said.
Speaking on the theme: Leadership and Entrepreneurship, he indicated that there are many problems that people face in this country as far as their health care is concerned.
He, therefore, admonished that new innovations are discovered to help the progress of the pharmaceutical profession.
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“We can bring healthcare a little bit closer to the patient. For those of us who are now coming, we have all the time to immerse ourselves in the study that will get us to be innovative about the way that we approach pharmaceutical care or health care in general. We need to be able to think a little bit differently about the very things that we will see or do as far as health care is concerned in our country”, Pharm Kwabena Asante continued.
The Country Manager of Denk Pharma, Pharm Naa Okailey Adamafio-Manteau also admonished the students of the school to set for themselves goals beyond their aspirations of becoming pharmacists and to work towards achieving those goals.
With this she noted, “It is important to know where you want to go so that you are able to prepare yourself towards that. However, once that’s your goal, if opportunities come, there’s a chance for you to learn something, to do something that will help you be a better candidate for that opportunity. My point is, don’t just be satisfied with where you are now.”
She notes that it shouldn’t end there but they must also continue to work towards their goals.
Pharm Naa Okailey Adamafio-Manteau further said it is important for the students to have mentors who will guide them in their career growth, personal growth, and personal development as well.
She, however, appealed to the students to ensure their mentors are people who take special interest in their specific lives, academic life, career, and family lives.
As part of the annual week celebration, the Students’ Association of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is organizing a Pharma innovation challenge at the UCC School of Business forecourt today and a health outreach at Elmina on Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLFMNEWS
