Document to promote rational use of medicines

Saturday, August 7, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 27)

By Rebecca Kwei
The sixth edition of the Standard Treatment Guidelines (STGs) and Essential Medicines List (EML) to promote the rational use of medicines has been launched in Accra.
The STGs are scientifically developed documents that assist prescribers in deciding on appropriate treatments for specific clinical conditions, while the EML is an accompanying document that contains the list of medicines to be procured by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and reimbursable by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
The Chairman of the STG Review Committee, Dr Francis Ofei, said the STGs were valuable tools which would, among others, help in the sustainability of the NHIA, ensure that patients received medications appropriate to their clinical needs at the lowest cost to them and improve the quality of health received by patients.
He said since 1993, the MoH, through the Ghana National Drugs Programme, had been involved with the regular development and promotion of comprehensive therapeutic guidelines for use by all its agencies.
He said the document was the sixth edition of the ministry's officially approved prescribers' and dispensers' guide for all levels of health care.
Dr Ofei said care had also been taken to align the health insurance benefits package to that edition, adding that it had incorporated additional information on blood disorders such myeloma, leukaemia and lymphoma and specific cancers such as cervix and breast.
Topics on eye diseases such as glaucoma, conjunctivitis, trachoma and cataract and attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) for psychiatry have also been included.
Adding to the advantages of the STGs, the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, whose speech was read on his behalf, said apart from the document giving guidance for selecting the most appropriate drugs for use and enriching doctors’ prescribing pattern, it would enable health insurance institutions to enter into partnership with the ministry to ensure that patients were cared for at the least affordable cost.
"The treatment guidelines will enable healthcare providers to programme effectively for health logistics, thereby using funds more effectively. The information base for forecasting and ordering drugs will be easily strengthened, thereby making restocking a much more scientific process," he added.
Dr Kunbuor appealed to chief executives of teaching hospitals, regional directors and other stakeholders in health to ensure that the new guidelines were well disseminated among prescribers.
For his part, the Chief Executive of the NHIA, Mr Sylvester A. Mensah, said one of the biggest issues the insurance scheme was facing was irrational prescribing, with its cost implications which posed a threat to the sustainability of the scheme.
"Clinical audits and a claims verification exercise have shown that many of the problems facing the NHIS are to do with prescriptions not in line with the MoH’s laid down policies on treatments. Many prescribers also prescribe medicines above the levels agreed by the experts at the MoH," he explained.
Mr Mensah expressed the hope that the use of the STGs would help minimise treatment variations and also promote the appropriate use of the most cost-effective treatments, provide guidance for health professionals on the diagnosis and treatment of specific clinical conditions and serve as a reference point by which to judge the quality of prescribing medicines.