Set guidelines on packaging and labeling of drugs, Parliament tells FDA

Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Health is asking the Food and Drugs Authority to immediately furnish the committee with a Legislative Instrument with detailed guidelines on how to package, label and store drugs in the country.

This follows a JOY FM Hotline Documentary, “Toxic Beverages”, which exposed how children were getting killed through drinking toxic substances and taking drug overdose.

In that documentary a pediatrician specialist at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Dr. Justice Sylvaken, called on Parliament to come up with specific laws that will protect children.

Dr. Sylvaken suggested the mandatory use of child-proof containers for drugs that are particularly harmful to children.

He observed that in other countries, there are clear laws that spell out the type of containers manufacturers must use for packaging, and hence it was about time Ghana followed in that path.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, said that the doctor's call was timely.

He said he wanted action from the Food and Drugs Authority now, saying this will enable the House come up with specific laws that will protect children.

According to Yieleh Chireh, the large illiterate Ghanaian population makes such a law very important.

He called on the FDA to bring a Legislative Instrument, incorporating the ideas Dr. Sylvaken has suggested to guide pharmaceutical companies, distributors and everyone who handles medicines, particularly guidelines in relation to child safety.