The 3rd batch of 70 Medicine Counter Assistants (MCAs) of Chamalt MCA Training Institute in the Northern Region of Ghana, have graduated successfully after a six months intensive training programme on drugs dispensing and first aid.
Until recently, training programmes and refresher courses for MCAs never existed except for pharmacists, licensed chemical sellers, dispensing technologists and technicians, the Northern Zonal Manager of Pharmacy Council Michael Kudebong, said in a statement.
According to him, the Pharmacy Council, the body mandated to secure in the public interest the highest standards in the practice of pharmacy in Ghana, decided to bridge the gap by instituting the MCA programme to ensure that all personnel involved in the provision of pharmaceutical care are trained to meet current trends and challenges in the efficient and appropriate pharmaceutical service delivery.
The MCA is any person with the minimum qualification of SSSCE or its equivalent and has completed the required training and equipped with necessary skills to assist other members of the pharmaceutical care team, to provide optimal pharmaceutical care to patients by performing various duties in accordance with the Pharmacy Act, 1994 (Act 489) and any other regulation prescribed by the Pharmacy Council.
The training of MCAs is therefore, intended to build a trusted group of pharmacy support personnel to provide competent, acceptable and ethical methods of handling medications, and to also formalize the career of MCAs and make them recognized members of healthcare team.
In a speech read for him, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Council, Joseph Nyoagbe, indicated that MCAs are supposed to assist members of the pharmaceutical care team in performing various duties under the supervision of the superintendent pharmacists. Adding that, their duties include keeping pharmacy tidy, providing services to customers, selling over-the-counter medicines under supervision, assist in inventory management and dispensing, clerical duties, basic health education and among others.
He disclosed that currently, there are about sixteen (16) MCA institutions across the country with only ten including Chamalt MCA Training Institute being accredited to train MCAs. The others are G-Health Consult, Pfago Service Ltd, Rapha Development Ltd, Avenue Chemist ltd, CS Allot Pharmacy, Senes Pharmacy, EMEF Training Centre, Zinaida Pharmacy, Volta Health Consult ltd, Kraspect Ventures, Pharmatrust Pharmacy ltd, Chenette ltd, Medimax Pharmaceuticals ltd and Pherson’s Pharmacy ltd, which have trained 2,855 MCAs over the past few years.
The Registrar of the Pharmacy Council urged all personnel who work in pharmacies and related facilities to enroll in recognize MCA Training Institutions for capacity building.
The Director of Chamalt MCA Training Institute and owner of Chamalt Pharmacy, Anthony Amalba, said the first batch of MCAs enrolled in 2008 was 46 students who went through a 6 months training programme as required by Pharmacy Council, adding that 33 representing 71.7% passed the final exams conducted by the Council.
Following this great achievement, Mr. Amalba disclosed that all the second batch of 28 students who enrolled and wrote the final exams successfully passed, whilst 10 out of 13 who failed in the first batch made it after taking the exams again.
The Director of Chamalt MCA Training Institute however, appealed to the Pharmacy Council to endeavour to release final examination results early enough. He also called on the government to employ MCAs in the Ghana Health Service to provide services to people most especially in deprived areas where health facilities lack trained pharmacists.
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