The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has announced that it will take part in the global #MedSafetyWeek campaign, a collaboration involving more than 80 medicines regulatory agencies and several non-governmental organizations.
According to the FDA, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of reporting side effects of medicines.
In a communique signed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Delese Mimi A. A. Darko, she said "With the theme ‘Who can report?’, this year’s campaign will focus on the key role of every
patient / caregiver, doctor, nurse, and pharmacist who reports a side effect and contributes to medicine safety"
The communique further explained that the FDA has established a robust safety monitoring system to detect and analyse side effects of medicines.
Dr. Darko stressed that the purpose of safety monitoring is to gain more information about known side effects and find out about new ones.
"Continuously collecting and monitoring information from the reports received helps the FDA identify risks associated with medicines to enable the appropriate regulatory action to be taken to improve medicine safety"
The FDA emphasized the importance of reporting side effects by using reporting forms available in healthcare facilities and community pharmacies designated as patient safety centres or by using the Med Safety App.
She said"The Med Safety App is an electronic reporting tool that is convenient and easy to use. It is freely available on app
store or google play store"
"One may also report to any of the FDA regional offices nationwide"
She added that all reports made to FDA are thoroughly assessed to determine the right steps to be taken to protect public health and safety.
"Over the years, the FDA has processed a number of reports
in which patients, carers, and health professionals played key roles in making the reports available"
The FDA says it is encouraging all to contribute to safer medicines by identifying and reporting side effects.
The campaign which commenced on Number 6, is expected to end on November 12.
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith
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