Pharm. Paul Owusu Donkor, PhD

Ahead of the centenary celebrations of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) in 2036, the President of the PSGH, Pharm Paul Owusu Donkor, has cast a bold and visionary outlook for the future of pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical policy in Ghana.

Speaking at the official launch of the PSGH @ 90 celebrations held at Akropong on May 1, 2026, the President delivered what he described as “A Prophecy for the Centenary,” outlining ten transformational policy directions he hopes Ghana’s pharmaceutical sector will achieve within the next decade.

The prophetic vision touched on key areas including the integration of community pharmacies into Ghana’s primary healthcare system, digital regulation of medicines, expansion of clinical pharmacy practice, local pharmaceutical manufacturing, antimicrobial stewardship, green pharmacy policies, telepharmacy and the positioning of the PSGH as a leading pharmaceutical policy think tank in Ghana.

The address served not only as a reflection on the Society’s 90-year journey, but also as a strategic call to action for policymakers, regulators, academia, industry players, and pharmacists across the country to work deliberately towards a stronger, more innovative and patient-centred pharmaceutical future.

Below is the full text of the President’s prophecy as delivered at the launch ceremony:

A PROPHECY FOR THE CENTENARY — PHARMACY IN GHANA AT 100

I speak not as one who merely imagines, but as one who has seen what deliberate, organised effort can accomplish within a single decade. Hear, therefore, what pharmacy in Ghana shall look like when we return to mark one hundred years.

One. Community pharmacies shall be formally integrated into Ghana’s primary healthcare system, with defined service standards, structured referral pathways, and NHIS reimbursement. The policy shall exist, it shall be funded, and pharmacists shall be operating under it.

Two. The Pharmacy Council of Ghana shall be operating a fully digital regulatory system, from licensing to real-time medicines quality surveillance. Substandard and falsified medicines shall no longer move unchecked through our supply chain.

Three. Clinical pharmacy shall be standard practice in all teaching hospitals and at least half of regional hospitals with pharmacists on ward rounds, leading medication reviews, and contributing to patient outcomes. Not a pilot. A requirement.

Four. Ghana’s pharmacy schools shall be producing graduates trained not only for dispensing, but for manufacturing, vaccinology, and clinical practice at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The expertise to make Ghana’s medicines and vaccines shall be built in Ghana, by Ghanaians.

Five. At least three locally manufactured medicines shall have achieved WHO prequalification or equivalent recognition. Ghana shall have moved from dependence on imported generics to credible, quality-assured domestic production.

Six. A National Antimicrobial Stewardship Framework, co-led by the PSGH and Ghana Health Service, shall be operational across all public hospitals and community pharmacies. Prescription-only medicines shall be genuinely prescription-only, enforced, monitored, and publicly reported.

Seven. Ghana’s traditional, herbal, and alternative medicines shall be operating within a science-led regulatory and integration framework, standardised, evidence-informed, and formally recognised within the national medicines landscape. Our biodiversity shall be a pharmaceutical asset, not an afterthought.

Eight. The pharmaceutical sector shall have adopted a Green Pharmacy framework, governing medicine disposal, reducing pharmaceutical waste in our environment, and holding the supply chain accountable for its environmental footprint. The duty of care shall not end at the point of dispensing.

Nine. A structured financing mechanism shall enable pharmacists to establish and sustain practices in underserved communities, and a regulated telepharmacy framework shall be extending pharmaceutical care to those beyond the reach of a physical pharmacy. Geography shall no longer determine access.

Ten. And when we mark one hundred years, the PSGH shall be recognised as Ghana’s foremost pharmaceutical policy think tank, producing evidence, shaping legislation, and speaking with authority in the media on every matter that touches medicines and public health. We shall not merely have celebrated a century. We shall have spent a decade earning it.