The Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners (GHAFTRAM) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) organised a day’s workshop for producers and manufacturers of herbal medicine on the need to protect the health and safety of consumers.

Addressing the participants, Mr John Odai-Tettey, the Central Regional Head of FDA said the use of herbal/plant based medicines was on the increase globally and kept widening.

“National Regulatory Authority, like the FDA in Ghana, thus have a duty to ensure that herbal medicinal products are manufactured to meet quality standards, safe and efficacious”, he stressed.

To achieve this, he said manufacturers must employ the current code of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure that every stage in the manufacturing processes complied with a pre-determinable standard.

In addition, he noted, the products, their safety and efficacy must be built into the manufacturing processes for public good and was worried that majority of the manufacturers of herbal medicinal products were not taken steps to regularise their operations.

The FDA as part of its regulatory activities, to protect the health and safety of the consumer, provided industrial/ technical support services to increase the knowledge base of manufacturers.

Participants were taken through the GMP requirements for herbal medicine manufacture, packaging, labelling and dosage.

Working in smaller groups, participants had hand-on experience in the relevant areas of documentation and were assured of the required assistance to enable them register their products.

GHAFTRAM and the FDA have been collaborating over the years to sanitize herbal medicine production.

Mr. Abubakari Acquah the GHAFTRAM chairman of the Abura Dunkwa chapter, was grateful to the FDA for the continuous education for manufacturers of herbal medicine and assured the FDA that lessons learnt would be put to good use.
Participants were awarded certificates.