He said unity was a sine qua non for development and “you can effectively harness your potential, but if there is disunity and internal squabbling there is no way you can meaningfully contribute to development.”

When that happened, he noted that all resources that should be channelled into productive ventures would be spent on struggles for power and superiority.

According to the Asantehene, the need for unity was fundamental for harnessing “our potential for national economic development “

Unity

Otumfuo who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2017 annual conference of PSGH in Kumasi on Wednesday, challenged the society to take the lead role in unifying and creating a rallying point for not only groups in pharmacy but to reach out to other health professionals to create a common body to address whatever differences in interests there might be across board.

He said the different players in the pharmaceutical industry must see themselves as one “as long as your overarching interest is to serve the patients and clients and ensure that they get well.”

“If we wish to harness our potential for national economic development, we must be united,” he added and charged the members to make the overarching goal of strength in unity their focus for harnessing their potential.

Change

He said events in the 21st century have shown that the world was changing rapidly and globalization and technology were constantly redefining how people lived and practiced their professions.

This, according to the Asantehene, called for new ways of doing things that have always been known and thus charged the pharmacists to take advantage of the ongoing changes in the pharmaceutical industry and society at large to play their roles effectively.

This, he said, was critical to the survival of the society and the profession as a whole and “your ability to survive the dynamics of today's world will determine how you can contribute to national development.”

He said patients were becoming more aware of their rights and informed of their health thus putting a greater burden on pharmacists as experts in medicine to also advance further to retain the trust the patients should have in what they offer.

“I encourage you to embrace change and improve what you do to meet to exceed the expectations of this highly enlightened society,” he stated.

Theme

Speaking on the theme: “harnessing opportunities in pharmacy for national economic development”, Pharm Francis Aboagye-Nyame said the pharmaceutical industry has the potential to move the fortunes of the country if all the opportunities were harnessed.

He said the role of medicine could not the underestimated as about 80 percent of all treatment is based on medicines.

This, he said, created a huge opportunity for the industry to tap in and create the needed jobs that would contribute to the national development.

According to him, setting up a manufacturing company would not only create job for pharmacists only but other professionals in the value chain process.

Currently, he said about 70 percent of all drugs used in the country were imported, an indication that there was huge potential for the manufacturing sector in the country.

However, he said high cost of finance and access to land were some of the main challenges facing players in the sector and called on all stakeholders to come on board to move the sector forward and tap into the potentials of the sector.

10-Year strategic plan

As part of its efforts to position the society in a better stead and meet the growing needs of its youthful members, the president of PSGH, Pharm Thomas Boateng Appiagyei, said his administration has developed a 10-year strategic plan that would transform the society into a model self-sustaining professional body in Ghana.

He said every pharmacist “here and following anywhere in the world has a unique place and role in this document.”

According to him, the plan presented a working document for every leader “and membership has a measuring tape to assess leadership.

“We have created a new outlook that will leverage on our collective potentials, utilize the energies and innovation of our young generation, honour the legacies of my predecessors and build stronger bridges with our stakeholders,” he noted.