Ghana Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia launches new National Electronic Pharmacy Platform

New Electronic Pharmacy Platform by the Pharmacy Council set to benefit over 30 million Ghanaians, providing them with access to prescribed medicines in a more convenient and cost-effective manner online, reducing the risk of the sale of counterfeit medicine

ACCRA, Ghana, July 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Addressing a crowd of distinguished guests including the Deputy Minister of Health, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and others, Ghana Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia outlined the new National Electronic Pharmacy Platform (NEPP), a secure online national pharmacy platform that will allow Ghanaians to purchase prescribed medicines and arrange delivery for them.

In 2019, Dr. Bawumia challenged Ghana's Pharmaceutical Society to digitise, ensuring prudent regulation of their services including medicine distribution.

Yesterday, Ghana's Vice President announced that years of planning have led to this announcement being possible, passing on the gratitude of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the hard work by all those involved.

'Today's event is historic… for the first time in our nation, we are going to deploy a National Electronic Pharmacy Platform which will enable over 30 million Ghanaians to have access to prescribed medicines in a more convenient, cost effective and quality assured manner, scaling over counterfeit and inferior medicines', said Dr. Bawumia.

In his speech, Dr. Bawumia highlighted the need to continue using technology to solve challenges facing Ghanaians and to always strive for positive change.

Amongst other things, the new Platform will reduce the sale of unlicensed medicines, ensure confidentiality of health information, safeguard the privacy of patients' medical records, and minimise the availability of counterfeit medicine in Ghana.

Irrespective of one's location, the new e-pharmacy will enhance convenience and efficiency for all via a speedy and secure online payment system embedded in the free NEPP app, reducing large queues and long journey times, all while helping to prevent the provision of illegitimate medicine.

The growth in the number of people searching the internet for medicine and answers to their health-related questions has had an unfortunate side effect – growth in the sale of counterfeit health products around the world. This has increasingly led to serious side effects among the general population and, in some cases, death.

'The introduction of the National ePharmacy Platform (NEPP) is meant to safely and securely make available medicines, reduce the burden of cost and save time' added Bawumia.

Every drug request entered into this new system is controlled by a team of professionally registered pharmacists who will dispense and process the requests accordingly, in a secure and trust-worthy manner.

Dr. Bawumia encouraged all online platforms, mobile apps and websites to reach out to the Pharmacy council and be approved for use in Ghana, so that NEPP can be fully integrated into all aspects of the digital health ecosystem where medicines are dispensed.

'Essentially, we are creating an enabling environment that will bring the pharmacy to your doorstep', explained Dr. Bawumia.

Privacy, transparency and safety are all paramount concerns for the government and are thus playing a leading role in this new initiative, with the new system being connected to the Food and Drugs Authority database in order to more easily authenticate medicines being sold and approved for sale.

With this new system in-place, Ghana will be part of the growing e-pharmacy global market which was valued at USD52 billion in 2021 and is forecast to grow at an annual compound rate of 19.5 percent between 2022 to 2030.

Dr. Bawumia concluded by emphasising the government's ongoing commitment to working with the population to continue driving Ghana forwards, with its leading digitisation programme illustrating this.