Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has expressed concern at the increase in advertisement of unapproved and unregulated treatment, prevention and cure remedies for life-threatening illness and diseases to Ghanaians across the country.
This, according GMA, was a gross breach and disregard for the laws of the country, and should be stopped immediately in order to reduce the death rates caused by such treatments.
GMA in a statement signed and issued by President of the Association, Dr. E. Ewusi-Emmim, and the General Secretary, Dr. Frank Serebour, listed some of the diseases and illnesses for which advertisement for prevention and cure were prohibited under the Fifth Schedule of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851).
The diseases listed included blindness, cancer, heart disease, alcoholism, asthma, diabetes, infertility and kidney failure.
Others such as fibroid, Leukaemia, diseases of the reproductive system and tuberculosis were also on the list.
The statement noted that under the Public Health Act, “a person commits an offense if that person labels, packages, sells or advertises a drug or a herbal medical product or cosmetic in contravention of the regulations or guidelines in the Act or in a manner that is false and misleading or deceptive or otherwise misbranded with regard to its character, constitution and value, composition and merits under the Act.”
The statement added that it was equally an “offense punishable by law, should any person or persons advertise or sell a drug or herbal medicinal product in a manner that changes the product or makes it appear to be of a better or greater therapeutic value than it really is.”
GMA in the statement lamented on how some herbal practitioners and individuals who promise Ghanaians of herbal healing were not being scrutinised by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and were therefore operating with fake or unaccredited permits.
The statement accused the media of playing a vital role by giving them space in both electronic and print media everyday.
“Some of these unregulated advertisements are purely motivated by profits and have no interests of the well-being of the Ghanaian at heart,” the statement said.
Touching on credibility, the statement noted that claims by the unscrupulous practitioners and individuals were causing great harm to patients and thereby increasing morbidity and mortality, adding that “some patients who patronise such products present to health facilities with complications with very fatal consequences.”
GMA, therefore, called on the Ministry of Health, Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), FDA, Media Commission and other stakeholders to, as a matter of urgency, work together to ensure the strict adherence and enforcement of the laws regulating advertisements on medicines and treatment of ailments as listed in the Public Health Act to protect the health of Ghanaians.
Story: Mizpah Etormenye Mensavie-Ayivor