Come Again Police, Tip-offs Are Not Gospel Truths!� Pharmaceutical Society

The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG) is imploring the security agencies, most especially the Ghana Police Service, to be wary of informants and not act too swiftly on their information, if there are no established facts. The President of the PSG, Dr Alex Dodoo who made the call also entreated the Police that in following up on tip-offs, they should ensure their information was sound, advising that �if your tip-off is not sound, then handle your information confidentially,� he said. Admittedly, he said, the police have a job to do and rightly respected to do so, but Dr. Dodoo opines that there was the need for the police to be quite sure of their information, adding that �what they have done was not fair and right.� �The Pharmaceutical industry is extremely important, without medicine, health care is zero; if we destroy the Pharmaceutical industry, we destroy the health of Ghanaians,� he stressed. Speaking on an Accra-based radio station, OmanFM, Dr. Dodoo said the PSG is indeed saddened by the turn of events, which has tarnished the image of Kinapharma Pharmaceutical Company Limited, particular when the police still insist they were professional and everything they did was within the remit of the law. �Every country has to protect its heroes and leaders,� he emphasised. He added that the police needs to apply discretion when acting on information regarding pharmaceutical giants in the country since any unintended consequences impacts negatively on their operations and dents the country�s image in the eyes of the international world. �They are creating jobs and producing medicine�Kinapharma alone employs about 800 people, and the Pharmaceutical society believes any harm done to the company might add more woes to the country�s unemployment crises,� he pointed out. Kinapharma, which is an indigenous Ghanaian company with an international reputation, had been conducting trials for the World Health Organisation (WHO) for countries such as Papua New Guinea and Madagascar. Its Managing Director, Mr Kofi Nsiah-Poku, was a leading consultant production pharmacist for several countries and organisations, including the WHO, former Marketing Man of the Year, former lecturer in Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and leading member of both the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).