Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the new National Electronic Pharmacy Platform (NEPP), a secure online national pharmacy platform that will allow Ghanaians to purchase prescribed medicines and arrange delivery for them.
Through a mobile phone, as well as mobile money interoperability and universal QR Code services, the Ghanaian public will be able to enter a prescription into the digital platform, select the pharmacy of choice, pay for the medicines and have it delivered to the comfort of one’s home.
Launching the NEPP, Vice President Bawumia, who challenged Ghana’s Pharmaceutical Society to go digital in 2019 and supported the implementation of the NEPP through his office, expressed delight at the successful execution of the project and the immense benefits it will bring to Ghanaians in the delivery of healthcare.
“Today’s event is historic for the reason that, for the first time in our nation, we are going to deploy a National Electronic Pharmacy Platform which will enable over 30 million Ghanaians to have access to prescribed medicines in a more convenient, cost-effective and quality assured manner, scaling over counterfeit and inferior medicines,” Dr. Bawumia said.
Amongst other things, the new Platform will reduce the sale of unlicensed medicines, ensure confidentiality of health information, safeguard the privacy of patients’ medical records, and minimise the availability of counterfeit medicine in Ghana.
Irrespective of one’s location, the new e-pharmacy will enhance convenience and efficiency for all via a speedy and secure online payment system embedded in the free NEPP app, reducing large queues and long journey times, all while helping to prevent the provision of illegitimate medicine.
The growth in the number of people searching the internet for medicine and answers to their health-related questions has had an unfortunate side effect – growth in the sale of counterfeit health products around the world.
This has increasingly led to serious side effects among the general population and, in some cases, death.
“Buying online is easy and convenient. But if you consider buying medicines online, you need to be cautious. Unfortunately, many online shops and Internet platforms sell medicines illegally. If you buy illegal medicines physically or online, at best you risk spending money on something that might have no effect, at worst the medicine has serious side effects or puts your life at risk and may result in even death.”
“The introduction of the National ePharmacy Platform for short NEPP is meant to safely and securely make available medicines, reduce the burden of cost and save time,” the vice president added.
Every drug request entered into this new system is controlled by a team of professionally registered pharmacists who will dispense and process the requests accordingly, in a secure and trustworthy manner.
Dr. Bawumia encouraged all online platforms, mobile apps and websites to reach out to the Pharmacy council and be approved for use in Ghana, so that NEPP can be fully integrated into all aspects of the digital health ecosystem where medicines are dispensed.
“Essentially, we are creating an enabling environment that will bring the pharmacy to your doorstep”, explained Dr. Bawumia.
With the ePharmacy platform linked to regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority database, Dr. Bawumia added, it will be easier to authenticate medicines being sold and approved for sale.
“I am particularly impressed that for medication safety, this has been connected to the Food and Drugs Authority database making it easy to authenticate those medicines being sold online are approved for sale in Ghana.”
“The easy access of narcotic and dangerous medicines will be greatly reduced through the effective control of these types of medicines through NEPP.
“This, I believe will among other things address four key concerns in the provision of pharmacy services; reduction in the sale of unlicensed medicines, ensuring the confidentiality of health information, the privacy of patients’ medical records, and minimizing counterfeit and sub-standard medication in the country.”
With this new system in place, Ghana will be part of the growing e-pharmacy global market which was valued at USD52 billion in 2021 and is forecast to grow at an annual compound rate of 19.5 percent between 2022 to 2030.