On Monday, July 19, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia unveiled the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform (NEPP) in Accra. The national e-Pharmacy, Africa's first national-scale ePharmacy platform, is a digital convergence of licensed pharmacies across the country that will allow Ghanaians to access prescribed medicines and buy by placing an order with a mobile phone via the ePharmacy app, website, or a shortcode, and having the medicine delivered to a specified location. Vice President Bawumia, who pushed the Pharmacy Council to go digital in 2019 and backed the implementation of the NEPP through his office, expressed joy at the project's flawless execution and the great advantages it will bring to Ghanaians in healthcare delivery. "I recall with fondness that in 2019, in line with the government's digitalization drive, I challenged the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana to take steps to ensure that Pharmacy services are digitized to ensure prudent regulation of the services provided in medication dispensing and other services," Dr. Bawumia said.
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"Today's event is historic because, for the first time in our country, we will deploy a National Electronic Pharmacy Platform, allowing over 30 million Ghanaians to have access to prescribed medicines in a more convenient, cost-effective, and quality-assured manner, displacing counterfeit and inferior medicines." The e-Pharmacy platform is configured in such a way that every drug request made into the system is monitored by a team of professionals and registered pharmacists, who distribute the medication to the patient in a trustworthy manner based on the legality and availability of the drug. This, according to Dr. Bawumia, would not only make pharmaceuticals more available and encourage competitive pricing, but it will also assist curb the sale of illicit drugs.
"Most of the time, consumers have to travel quite a distance merely to find cost-effective and dependable pharmacies to get drugs." Most of the time, this has resulted in pharmacy operators taking advantage of patients' vulnerabilities to inflate costs or provide bogus replacements for the prescription sought," the Vice President remarked.
"Online shopping is simple and convenient. However, if you are thinking about purchasing medications online, you should proceed with caution. Unfortunately, numerous online retailers and Internet platforms illegally offer pharmaceuticals. If you acquire illicit drugs in person or online, you risk wasting money on something that may or may not have any effect; at worst, the medicine has terrible adverse effects, puts your life in danger, and may even result in death."
"The establishment of the National ePharmacy Platform, or NEPP for short, is intended to safely and securely make pharmaceuticals available, decrease the economic burden, and save time." Dr. Bawumia noted that by connecting the ePharmacy platform to regulatory authorities like as the Food and Drugs Authority, it will be simpler to authenticate medications and solve other issues about medication distribution.
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"I am particularly delighted that, in terms of pharmaceutical safety, this has been linked to the Food and Drugs Authority database, making it simple to authenticate that medications offered online are permitted for sale in Ghana."
"Through the proper management of these sorts of pharmaceuticals through NEPP, the simple access to narcotic and harmful medicines would be considerably decreased."
"I believe this will address four key concerns in the provision of pharmacy services, including reducing the sale of unlicensed medicines, ensuring the confidentiality of health information, the privacy of patients' medical records, and minimizing counterfeit and sub-standard medication in the country."
The Vice President, who has led Ghana's digitisation effort in many areas, emphasized the need of adding ePharmacy to the country's other digital services, as well as its economic potential for both the pharmaceutical business and the Ghanaian economy. "Today's world is moving at an unprecedented rate. Even those who expected that technology will change the way products and services are distributed did not expect it to happen so rapidly. Since the COVID-19 epidemic, we have watched the digital technology change in education, retail trade, architecture and construction, and, more lately, healthcare."
"In the field of health, the debate over contactless pharmaceutical service distribution has seen ePharmacy emerge as a potential sector in providing convenience in pharmacy services for everybody, regardless of location."
"The worldwide ePharmacy market was valued at USD52.0 billion in 2021 and is predicted to increase at a compound annual rate of 19.5 percent between 2022 and 2030." Experts attribute this to expanding internet penetration throughout the world, an increasing number of tech-savvy customers, and rising consumer preference for online transactions with a heightened focus on convenience as significant reasons driving market expansion.
"Ghana will be a part of this new pharmaceutical digital economy via the National Electronic Pharmacy Platform, boosting pharmaceutical sales and generating cash that may be funneled towards research and other medical improvements."
"Increased use of digital technology and e-commerce, particularly in the healthcare sector, is expected to drive overall development." This is why the government considers this platform to be not only important in connecting patients to approved licensed pharmacies, registered pharmacists, and critical pharmaceutical services, but also a critical innovation in safeguarding our youth's future, providing avenues for job creation, digital startup business innovations, and economic growth." The Vice President praised the Pharmacy Council and other stakeholders for their contributions to the launch of "this great
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project." Deputy Minister of Health Mahama Asei Seini, Registrar of the Pharmacy Council Dr. Audu Rauf, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana Samuel Kow, Chairperson of the Pharmacy Council Mrs. Doris Fosu-Hemaa Addae Afoakwa, and representatives from the Ghana Health Service were among those present at the launch.
