Health authorities have been advised to ensure that all devices and drugs supplied to health facilities are registered under the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
The FDA said medical devices are very essential components of the health care system, hence, the need for health authorities to insist on using only the FDA approved medical devices and drugs.
Akua Amartey, the Acting Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) in charge of Medical Devices, Cosmetics and Household Chemicals Division of the FDA, gave the advice in Wa during a stakeholders’ training on the “Regulation of Medical Devices in Ghana”.
Explaining what necessitated the training, Amartey said the FDA was mandated by the Public Health Act: Act 851 to regulate the safety and quality of all products on the Ghanaian market including medical devices; a component, she acknowledged, most people did not know.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer explained that the training was meant to give stakeholders an opportunity to understand the regulatory processes and pay attention to them to ensure that they had the right quality of medical devices to work with.
Amartey advised the public to ensure they check the details of a medical product before using them.
She urged health authorities and the public to report suppliers who supply medical devices and other products to health facilities or to the market that are not registered with the FDA for immediate action to be taken against that supplier.
Mr Joseph Bennie, Head, Medical Devices Department of the FDA, cautioned media houses against advertising drugs that were not certified by the authority.
He appealed to the media to look out for the FDA on adverts and also cross- check with the authority to establish the legality of adverts before airing or publishing them to avoid sanctions.
–
Source: GNA