By Doreen Ampofo
Stakeholders are advocating funding for biomedical research in Ghana to improve drug discovery. At a round table with industry, academia, researchers and policymakers, it was revealed that a good number of PhD and Master’s students often have to self-fund very important medical research projects, leading to many of them not continuing in academia or moving to countries like South Africa, USA and Europe with their discoveries.
Diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis, and tuberculosis have a massive impact in Ghana, and yet there is inadequate research in drug discovery into these diseases locally. This has mainly been due to the lack of specialized training, equipment and most importantly funding. At the round table, participants revealed that researchers in the country’s public universities are forced to use personal funds to buy reagents for research at exorbitant prices. Researchers in the country’s public Universities expressed the frustration they face in acquiring regents following the huge taxes placed on them.
“It’s a shame that I sit here in Ghana and I look for money in the US, Europe to fund my research. I don’t have any national fund that I can apply to for funds to conduct national based research. Yet, when I use part of my salary to import regents, I am required to pay huge taxes at the Port. Why can’t we have an indirect means of having these things addressed. Sometimes our regents stay at the ports for weeks and even months if we don’t pay,” he noted.
Speaking at the round table, President of SENA Institute of Technology, Dr Andrew Agbleke, emphasised that a major challenge facing biomedical research in Ghana is the lack of funding, making it difficult for institutions to conduct research.
“In fact, some faculty use their own money to conduct research. Even Graduate students suffer the same fate, using their own money to buy regents in order to conduct research for their degrees,” he explained.
The President of SENA Institute of Technology said that should not be the case especially when biomedical research has the potential to solve challenges in the county’s health system. He asked the government and businesses to invest in biomedical research.
“We need the government’s support. There must be a collaboration between industry and science. The country has been relying too much on donor funds from US, Europe and Asia. However, I think we have enough resources locally to be able to fund biomedical research. It must be a collaboration between government, industry and academia.
Speaking on behalf of industry, the President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke, explained the challenge businesses have with supporting research. He said industry is not necessarily engaging with academia for the purpose of producing research results because there is disconnect, adding that research projects have not had much of a direct impact on industry. This he said makes it difficult for industry to support research. Dr. Humphrey Ayim-Darke proposed an arrangement where academia, industry and government come together to decide on which problems to resolve with research.
“This problem must impact directly on industry because once we are going to be financing it, we must look at profits and making money,” Dr Ayim-Darke noted.
Present at the round table was Dr. Rich Roberts, a 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine. He asked the government to invest in science education, particularly those involving the youth.
