The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) hosted its Rwandan counterpart, which was on a 5-day study tour of the Authority.
The team was led by the Deputy Director General of the Rwanda’s FDA, Madam Umuhoza Martine, according to the report by the Ghanaian Times on Wednesday. The report said that the tour, which started on September 26 ended on September 30 and that it was in pursuant of the provisions in a Memorandum of Understanding between the institutions.
According to the report, the study tour is part of the capacity building programme aimed at supporting Rwandan FDA to attain the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) Maturity Level Three (ML3).
The WHO GBT, which is divided into 4 levels is an instrument to strengthen medical products regulation and promotion of universal health coverage.
It represents the primary means by which the WHO objectively evaluates regulatory systems.
The report quoted the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Health Products and Technologies, Mr Seth Seneake, who welcomed the Rwandan delegation on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Delese Darko, as saying that the Ghanaian team was ready to share their knowledge and experiences with them.
It recalled that in April 2020, the Ghana FDA became the second and one of only two countries of WHO African Region’s 47 countries to have attained a Level 3 ranking.
The report said that some of the objectives of the benchmarking visit were to seek learning opportunities to strengthen their technical operations, enhance participant’s knowledge in the enforcement of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Good Clinical Practices (GCP) and Good Distribution Practices (GDP) as well as the adoption of a risk-based approach to regulatory inspections and laboratory testing.
It added that the delegation led by a team from Ghana FDA conducted a GMP inspection at UnichemGhana Limited and Good Distribution Practices and Good Storage Practice inspection at East Cantonments Pharmacy Limited to enhance their knowledge and skills in these regulatory enforcement activities.
Dr Raymond Muganga, who spoke after the tour on behalf of Rwanda’s FDA expressed gratitude to Ghana’s FDA for their warm reception and the unique learning opportunity the visit had offered them.
He said that the team had acquired the knowledge that would assist in building the capacity of Rwanda’s FDA in its preparation to attain the WHO ML3 in the near future.
In his remarks, Patrick K. Rugambya, who is a member of the Rwanda delegation said that the Rwanda FDA would look forward to further peer-learning opportunities with a visit from some staff of the FDA Ghana for further coaching and mentorship.
GIK/APA