Health Minsister Agyeman-Manu Unveils Standard Treatment Guidelines

Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu has launched the seventh edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and Essential Medicine List (EML), with a call on health professionals to abide by the guidelines when treating patients.

The sector minister said the document which is revised every two years is aimed at empowering health professionals to use medicines responsibly as it spells out first, second line of action in treating the different ailments.

Mr Agyeman-Manu stated that the responsible use of essential medicines is as crucial as the supply of adequate quantities of essential medicines of acceptable quality within the health system.

He, therefore, mentioned that the level of care detailed within the STGs and EML must be complied with across all levels of the healthcare system through the reimbursement scheme provided by the National Health Insurance Authority.

The minister indicated that the EML in guiding local production also implies that the quality assurance mechanisms in place for medicines listed must work more effectively.

Mr Agyeman-Manu also cautioned the public about fake guidelines supposed to be emanating from the Ministry of Health.

“The document being launched today is the ministry's approved guidelines which are also available from approved websites of the ministry of health and its agencies,” he added

STG/EML
Standard Treatment Guidelines are systematically developed statement that assists prescribes in deciding on the appropriate treatments for specific clinical problems. They usually reflect the consensus on the optimal treatment options within a health system and aim at beneficially influencing prescribing behaviour at all levels of care.

Over the years, Ghana has implemented an essential medicine policy using the STG and EML as policy tools to guide prescription, dispensing, procurement and reimbursement across all levels of the health sector.

The new guideline has an increased number of items totalling 844, 453 medicines, with 72 deleted from the old guideline and 157 added to the new document.

Also, 43 existing products with added formulations were added to the new document, while 78 were deleted.

The Chairman of the STG Ghana Review Committee, Professor Francis W. Ofei, explained that the medicine selection process for specific treatment are very strategic, especially as Ghana moves towards Universal Health Coverage in agenda 2030 SDGS.

Prof Ofei hinted that over the years, the medicines selection process has been through a national expert committee carefully selected across all disciplines with terms of reference and coordinated by the National Drug Programme of the Ministry of Health.

He mentioned that the seventh edition had benefited from innovative approached and initiatives which include evidence synthesis, comparative cost-effectiveness analysis and application of global and national best practices and the lesson learnt over the years.

“The national expert committee working together with stakeholders has reviewed treatments and the list of medicines on the EML, including medicines for children,” he said.

Prof Ofei stated that the committee has advised the MoH on the specific medicines recommended for reimbursement on the Ghana Health Insurance medicines list as per the evidence for efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness.

“The outcome of this activity would align the National Health Insurance medicine list with EML and ensure that the reimbursement list remains a subset of EML,” he said.

Prof Ofei disclosed that the committee would assist the ministry to optimise the activities at a cost-saving mechanism four social health insurance.

“The optimisation of this instrument should be an ongoing process as we look for new opportunities within the pharmaceutical and clinical space to optimise our expenditure on health,” he said.

Mrs Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, Director of Pharmaceutical Services, MoH, in her statement added that the recommended timeframe for review was two years, however, due to funding architectures the department cannot conduct a review as it should.

She, therefore, called for a sustained source of funding that brings efficiency to the system.