The Department of Herbal Medicine, KNUST, in association with Researchers in Herbal Medicine (RHM), Ghana, organized a three-day intensive training and capacity-building programme on the theme “Training in quality herbal medicine production”. The training was attended by forty-eight (48) manufacturers. The manufacturers were taken through good practices in herbal material processing, therapeutic constituents of local plants, pharmaceutical grade capsules, and tablet making. They were also, exposed to various methods of extraction of plant metabolites with practical sessions. In addition, they were trained in the standardization of herbal products.
The aim of the programme was to train herbal medicine manufacturers to understand the application of basic scientific methods, tools, and guidelines that can make a significant contribution to better access quality, safe and effective medicines.
Speaking at the training to welcome the manufacturers, the Head of the Herbal Medicine Department, Prof Isaac K. Amponsah said that, it is estimated that the present size of the global market for traditional medicines has gone up tremendously due to the present trends. He explained that in Ghana with opportunities in the traditional medicine industry, there is a need for unity among practitioners due to the enormous development of natural medicine products for experts’ promotion.
Prof. Isaac Amponsah, the Head of the Department of Herbal Medicine leading the training, introduced the manufacturers to Good Manufacturing Practice. He indicated that improvement in the quality of herbal medicines could be achieved by the deliberate implementation of good agricultural and collection practices at the point of cultivation of medicinal plants and good manufacturing practices during the process of manufacture and packaging of the finished products. Prof. Amponsah also called upon researchers to work in collaboration with traditional health practitioners to produce scientific evidence on the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicine products.
He emphasized the need to take the training very serious as it will serve as a guide in helping to meet some standards required in current herbal product manufacturing in Ghana. Prof. Isaac Amponsah also indicated that the herbal medicine industry has witnessed an increase rise to various forms of abuse and adulteration leading to consumers and some allied health practitioners’ disappointment. This has in some instances caused fatal consequences. He intimated that, generally, all medicines, whether synthetic or of plant origin should fulfil the basic requirements of being safe and effective. The safety and quality of raw materials can determine the safety, quality and efficacy of the finished products. As a rule, all stages of drug preparation from the cultivation, collection of raw materials to finished products must be standardized. Therefore, the Department of Herbal Medicine will ensure practitioner development as a strategic and critical mandate.
Prof. Amponsah encouraged the manufacturers on the need to improve and build their capacity through such programmes.
Training Session
The following topics were covered during the training;
- Good practices in herbal medicine processing
- Plant metabolites: therapeutic constituents of local plants
- Extraction of plant metabolites
- Herbal dosage forms
- Standardization of herbal products
- Documentation in herbal products manufacturing
- Pharmaceutical grade tablets and capsules making
- Preservation of herbal products
- Good labelling practices
This topic was presented by Prof. Isaac Amponsah, Dr. Frederick William Akuffo Owusu, Department of Pharmaceutics, KNUST, Dr. George H. Sam, Department of Herbal Medicine, Dr. Bernard Kofi Turkson and Mr. Mike. K. Baah, Department of Herbal Medicine.
Prof. Isaac Amponsah concluded by saying that, the Department of Herbal Medicine is about rolling out short-term courses on quality control of natural products and safety to assist manufacturers. He also indicated that a post-graduate programme is about to be introduced.
Prof. Asare-Nkansah, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in his closing remarks, advised the manufacturers to put the knowledge and skills they have acquired to use. This will help them develop and produce medicines systematically by aiming for quality, safety, and efficacy respectively.