The Ghana Institution of Engineering, together with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), has launched the Upskilling of Biomedical Engineers for Ghana Project anchored on the theme: “Collaborations for BME Education, Practice and Regulations in Ghana.”
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, hinted that the national health policy was revised to reflect the national health agenda, incorporating new developments and international best practices in health and provide direction towards excellent health care delivery through best practice of Biomedical Engineering in Ghana.
The Minister also disclosed that just last month, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) was designated as the Regional Centre of Regulatory Excellence in Vaccine Regulatory Oversight in Africa. “This achievement and recognition align with the President’s agenda to make Ghana a vaccine manufacturing hub for Africa,” he said.
According to him, the drug laboratory of the FDA has also achieved WHO- Prequalified Quality Control Laboratory Status, which is the first in West Africa.
“This ensures that test results from Ghana’s FDA are accepted globally and therefore creating the opportunities for locally manufactured medicines to be marketed on the international market,” the Minister stated.
Mr Manu also expressed enthusiasm that Ghana has positioned itself towards achieving Universal Health Coverage and the Ministry was determined to strengthen the Biomedical Engineering workforce to deliver on the services required.
“We also look forward to assembling medical devices in the country as plans are underway to build state of the art R&D Centre where BME experts can invent medical devices for Ghana and possibly use local materials,” he explained.
GIZ over the years has been one of the major partners who has supported Ghana’s health sector tremendously through funding of projects, including COVID-19 donations and many others.
Grace Acheampong, ISD
