Dr Alex Dodoo, President of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP), on Wednesday asked patients to be assertive and demand answers for the quality of service being rendered to them by medical practitioners.
He said it the right of Ghanaians to know the efficacy of drugs being prescribed to them and their side effects.
He said society had moved away from the era when doctors played God with their patients.
Dr Dodoo was speaking at the launch of the 10th annual meeting of ISoP in Accra, which would take place from November 3- November 6 on the theme: "Pharmacovigilance in the Global Village."
The meeting will examine pharmacovigilance practices across the globe with a view to sharing best practices, highlighting common challenges and developing broad principles for dealing with them.
He said the theme was chosen to highlight the fact that in the global village, problems in one part of the world could quickly spread to other parts.
"We are living in an inter-dependent world where diseases as well as problems of fake, substandard and counterfeit medicines move with relative ease across borders."
Dr Dodoo stated that poor prescribing and dispensing practices are not limited to one country though the effects may be harsher in certain locations than others, due to availability of resuscitation equipment, trained medical personnel and good facilities.
He added that it was only through international collaboration that drug safety problems, especially those that happened beyond country borders, could be identified and addressed, as these challenges take on new significance.
Mr Bruce Hugman, Communications Consultant for the World Health Organisation's Programmes for International Drug Monitoring, urged stakeholders in drug safety to educate the public to take responsibility for the drugs they take.
He called on patients to make sure that their doctor or pharmacist prescribes the right medicines to them.
They should also avoid buying drugs from lorry stations or roadside vendors as that could be harmful.
Mr Hugman stated that although the effects of drugs are mostly good, they could be harmful to some people, citing the resistance of some patients to penicillin as an example.
Mr Kabral Blay Amihere, President of the National Media Commission, who chaired the function asked journalists to take interest in issues that bother on drugs safety.
The meeting will be preceded by the 33rd Annual Meeting of countries participating in the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring from October 31 to November 3.
There will be a joint WHO-ISoP meeting on the afternoon of November 3, which would be addressed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama.
This is the first time that major global drug safety events are being held in sub-Saharan Africa and the choice of Ghana reflects its increasing stature attained by the country in Global Drug Safety.
More than 500 participants representing Pharmacovigilance professionals from across the globe will attend the meeting.