The Ghana Pharmaceutical Students’ Association - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, has hosted the Maiden Ghana Pharmaceutical Students’ Conference at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FPPS) Lecture room one (1) from the 17th to 19th March 2023.

The conference, themed “Pharmacy for a better nation: transforming health, building stronger futures” was aimed at exposing pharmacy students to the impact of pharmacy in society, and its future in this contemporary era as well as encouraging professionalism, ethical behavior, and networking amongst students. The conference hosted over two hundred (200) participants from eleven (11) student associations across Ghana.

Kwame Agyena Boateng, the President of the Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation-Ghana (PSFGh) in his address, welcomed all participants and explained the importance of Pharmacy students coming together under one umbrella to discuss pertinent issues and develop and instill a sense of collaboration in the respective participants.

 

 

The Dean of FPPS, Professor Samuel Asare-Nkansah welcomed participants to KNUST. He also expressed his extreme elation as the Dean of FPPS to host this historic conference. He informed participants of the role of KNUST in mentoring the heads of various pharmaceutical institutions. In his address he stated that the future is us, referring to the participants seated and admonished us to work on improving our mindset and attitude.

He also lauded the Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation-Ghana (PSFGh) for the organisation of the conference because it has created an avenue for students to network, leverage our strengths and synergize with each other.

Delivering the keynote for the conference, Dr. Kwabena Offei Asante, ESQ. said that although the students were in attendance to deliberate about the future of Pharmacy Education, it was important they really took stock of how far we had come. He honoured Pharm. Abraham Gyesie for his contribution to the development of Pharmacy education, in that regard. He touched on the contribution of the Pharmacy fraternity to nation-building, making reference to the profession's contributions with regard to the development of Ghana’s Essential Medicines List (EML), the Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG), and the Antimicrobial Policy of the Ministry of Health, MoH.

 

 

He also touched on the role of the Pharmacy Profession in the development of Health Insurance and our continued contributions to the progress being made in ensuring Universal Health Coverage. In his speech, he highlighted the role of the Pharmacy Profession in Quality Assurance and the development of the current FDA (the First Head was a Pharmacist), which currently shines as a beacon around the world.

He also highlighted that per the training of students, they will be able to use our expertise wherever we find ourselves and made reference to the current CEO of Standard Chartered Ghana, who is a pharmacist by profession.

As part of his keynote address, Dr. Offei Asante advised participants that the world isn't straightforward and that by virtue of their presence at the conference, they are on their way to success. He admonished participants to offer themselves to the service of PSGh upon completion of school and not to be just members in name only but participate as well.

He also admonished participants to highlight, dissect problems and be creative in problem-solving, and offer themselves to contribute to the solution. Participants were also advised to put themselves through the hard work required to ensure that they are provided solutions to the problems they might encounter.