The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana have threatened to withdraw supply of pharmaceutical services to health facilities if government does not resolve the recent challenges that have characterized import clearance at the ports.
A statement from the Association signed by its Chairman, Harrison Abutiate expressed concern about the cumbersome processes under the new system operated by UNIPASS.
According to the statement the system has proven very costly for their members in terms of time and actual value of service at the ports. It says the virtual manual process has resulted in delays in the clearing of pharmaceutical imports, which has come with the risk of high cost in demurrage. The frustrations of the slow processes caused by the system rather than the importers has also placed their members at the mercy of the same system, with the prospects of further cost in penalties of various kinds.
The statement adds that members of the Association are also faced with the risk of losing some imports to expiration if the products are not cleared in good time.
The Association is therefore appealing to government to resolve the recent challenges that have characterized import clearance at the ports. The bottlenecks, they emphasized, have imposed harsh burdens on their members who have had to fall on government’s support to survive the COVID-19 conditions.
The statement says if the current situation persists, it could erode the benefits of the financial and other forms of cushioning they received from the government to overcome the COVID-19 challenges.
