News
Misuse of pain killers among health professionals disturbing
Dr. Dairus Osei, Technical Advisor to the Ministry being assisted to cut the ribbon and launch the documents
The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has expressed concern about what it describes as “disturbing rise in incidence of misuse and abuse of opioids even among healthcare professionals.”
Opioids are a class of drugs that are commonly used to treat pain, but they can also be highly addictive and dangerous.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of KATH, Professor Otchere Addai-Mensah, who expressed the concern, intimated, “opioid misuse within the healthcare sector poses health risks.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on the rational use of drugs in Kumasi, he said the “rational use of drugs is of paramount importance in any health care setting as it is a proven indicator of the quality of clinical services rendered by health facilities.”
He urged medical officers, including pharmacists to prescribe and administer pain killers, popularly referred to as opioids, with caution because, in their bid to help patients deal with pain “there is a temptation to prescribe medications that could jeopardise the state and health conditions of patients.”
According to him, pain was one of the most common medical complaints on earth and could adversely impact on the physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing of sufferers, resulting in a number of debilitations including sleeplessness, immobility, poor appetite and general reduction in the quality of life.
However, he noted that many chronic sufferers did not have access to effective pain management for a variety of reasons, including limited access, restrictions, personal and cultural biases and misconceptions about the use of opioids.
He indicated that the widespread use of opioids in contemporary pain management practices has become one of the most complex and globally challenging topics in medical care.
“But as health workers, daily experiences in the use of opioids for pain management has not only brought to the fore of the critical role they play in alleviating unbearable suffering among patients but the distinct challenges that come with them,” he lamented.
These challenges, he reiterated, included clinical access issues, regulatory pressures and, “currently, the disturbing rise in the incidence of their misuse and abuse even among healthcare professionals.”
On her part, Madam Olivia Agyekumwaah Boateng, a Director at the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), asked medical practitioners to take interest in opioids prescribed by pharmacists to their patients.
She noted that currently, the International Narcotics Control Authority, having realised the wanton use of opioids by some unscrupulous people has worked on regulating the supply of same to nations across the world.
The workshop is aimed at sensitising the KATH’S core health care professionals involved in the prescription, dispensing and administration of medications on the contemporary practices in the rational use of medicines.
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi
News
Craze for x’mas shopping: Crowded markets, low patronage
Vendors of food and other wares associated with the Christmas celebration have expressed surprise at the low patronage despite the increased number of visitors to some of the major markets across the capital.
Four days to the celebration(Christmas), the markets are filled with various products ranging from food, clothing, livestock and many other stuff, but according to the vendors, patrons are doing more ‘window’ shopping.
The Spectator on visits to some of the markets in the capital, notably the Odawna, Makola, Accra Central Business District, New Town and others made similar observations as shoppers crowd them but did little in terms of purchases.
The paper also observed that majority of vendors, originally selling other wares have switched to product related to the festive season.
What it means is that there are a lot more clothes, food and vegetables, livestock and poultry, toys, firecrackers, drinks of different types and many others on display.
The markets have also stretched to the pedestrian pavement, leaving very narrow spaces for commuters to move about freely.
That, in addition to a few of the female vendors dressed in coloured attires to reflect the occasion, has heightened the euphoria, leaving the low sales as the only headache for the vendors.
Speaking with this paper, they sounded very optimistic, believing that sales would improve in the last few days to the yuletide.
According to them, there was the opportunity to sell beyond Christmas as the New Year celebration offers similar opportunity to trade the same wares.
They urged patrons to throng the markets to shop since prices were quite moderate and products affordable for all.
News
Retirement service for Elder John Ackom-Asante,3 others
Retired Deputy Editor of The Spectator, Elder John Ackom-Asante, was last Sunday honoured by the Church of Pentecost Windy Hills District in Kasoa in the Central Region, with a retirement thanksgiving service, after serving for 26 year as an Elder of the church.
He was honoured with a citation and certificate of service along with three other elders who served in the capacity for various years.
Elder Ackom-Asante was baptised at the Darkuman Central Assembly in 1979 and ordained as an Elder in 1997.
The citation read “Your selfless service, zeal, willingness to relate wholeheartedly and your desire to effect change has gone a long way to shape the lives of many people in the church and the nation over the 26 years of your dedication to the service of the Lord.”
Elder Ackom- Asante held many positions at the Darkuman Central Assembly, Obuasi in the Ashanti Region and Tema, serving in various capacities as youth and evangelism ministry leader and marriage counsellor.
He was the founding member of the Darkuman Christian Fellowship, a member of the Greater Accra Christian Fellowship; member of Bible Society of Ghana; founding member Obuasi Chapter Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International and founding member of New Times Corporation Christian Fellowship and Chaplain, Methodist University Tema Campus 2009- 2010.
As a professional journalist, Elder Ackom-Asante combined effectively and efficiently his duty as a member and elder of the church and the demands of his profession, with admiration from the church, kith and kin, till his retirement on December
From Alhaji Salifu Abdul-Rahaman, Kasoa
