Hospital Pharmacy in Ghana

I I spent most of the week upon returning from the Drug Safety Campaign working in the Okomfo Anokye Teaching hospital. This is one of the largest hospitals in all of Ghana. It is certainly the largest in Kumasi (which is Ghana' second biggest city.

Reverse osmosis machine

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Most of the aseptic area is consumed by this reverse osmosis machine - which is how the pharmacy is able to purify water for IV's, eye drops, solutions, etc. Something that we take completely for granted in the U.S. (that we would be able to have sterile water).

Neem tree leaves

The leaves of the Neem tree (which is abundant) contains quinine and is often used as self treatment / herbal remedy for malaria.

the hospital clean room

Had an interesting discussion with the main pharmacist in the clean room. They have no hood (this includes for mixing chemo) and the conditions basically would not be considered acceptable anywhere in the U.S. - but it is this or nothing, so they do the best they can to keep things clean and sterile. Everything is prepared on as needed basis - nothing ahead of time because it might be too difficult to keep sterile or it may go bad. They have requested a laminar flow hood and hope to get one soon.

water in Ghana

water in Ghana is sold in plastic sachets. this is 'pure water' which has been filtered and is safe to drink. if you are more discriminating you can buy bottled water for ten times as much (literally - this bag is 0.05 cedis and a bottle is 0.50 cedis) - and honestly i think the sachets taste better than the bottled water.

Lake Volta

Lake Volta is a huge manmade lake (the largest in the world I believe). It runs up much of the eastern side of Ghana. During the National Drug Safety Campaign, we stayed in a port town called Yeji in the Pru district. It is the northern terminus of the once weekly ferry from Accra. The morning that we arrived in Yeji we took a ferry across the lake to the more remote Makango on the eastern bank of the river.

a broom

I have seen one conventional handle style broom since coming to Ghana (and this was in the big teaching hospital). Most brooms are much more simple – a collection of tree needles fastened together.