Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (KON) has urged the Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) to consider removing barriers that discourage prospective herbal medicine practitioners from registering their products.
He said the plant medicine industry had high potential benefits which include job creation and export revenue.
Mr Nkrumah was addressing this year’s Dr. Oku Ampofo Symposium of the Centre for Plant Medicine research in Accra, on the theme: “Health and Wealth; Moving Towards a Ghana Beyond Aid”.
“For you as researchers in plant medicine, it is important to first assess how your biggest asset, herbal medicine, can be used to drive this agenda”, he added.
The Minister, however, expressed worry about some risks associated with the sector, including consumers ingesting untested drugs and taking wrong dosages, or with other additives such as alcohol.
Mr Nkrumah noted that: “For the enormous potential benefits that Ghana stands to gain, if we are to succeed in boosting plant medicine, these risks I have just outlined have the potential to undermine the industry if we don’t attend to them”.
WAY FORWARD
The Information Minister called on the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, the Academy and Industry players including the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to partner the government in its efforts to mitigate the risks associated with this potentially beneficial industry.
“We also have to step up pharmacovigilance in the plant medicine space so that the unwholesome ones do not create a bad image for the entire industry”, he stressed.
ClassFM
