The Ashanti Region, the second-most populous area, is facing a severe public health crisis as figures reveal a massive shortage of pharmacists across its healthcare facilities.

Despite serving a population of more than 5.4 million people, the region currently has only about 250 pharmacists working within 44 health facilities, creating a shortfall of over 3,000 professionals — a gap experts warn is placing countless lives at risk.

The alarming deficit has sparked renewed calls from healthcare professionals, advocacy groups, and civil society for the immediate recruitment and posting of pharmacists to strengthen the region’s health system.

The campaign, currently trending under the hashtags #HirePharmacistsNow and #PharmacistsSaveLives, has gained momentum on social media, highlighting what many describe as a “silent emergency” undermining healthcare delivery.

Pharmacists play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and efficacy of medicines, serving as the final checkpoint in the healthcare chain before drugs reach patients.

They are responsible for verifying prescriptions, detecting drug interactions, advising on proper dosage, and ensuring rational use of medications.

However, in many hospitals and district health centers across the Ashanti Region, these essential professionals are either absent or overstretched.

Reports indicate that in several rural districts, one pharmacist is forced to cover multiple facilities, leading to increased workload, burnout, and potential errors in dispensing and patient care.

 A Long-Standing Workforce Crisis

The shortage of pharmacists is not new. For years, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) and the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) have raised concerns about inadequate recruitment despite hundreds of qualified graduates remaining unemployed.

Nationally, Ghana faces an uneven distribution of pharmacists, with most concentrated in urban centers like Accra and Kumasi, while rural and peri-urban communities are left without access to professional pharmaceutical services.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standards, Ghana should have at least one pharmacist per 2,000 people.

The current ratio in the Ashanti Region falls woefully below that benchmark.

Impact on Healthcare Delivery

Health experts warn that the pharmacist deficit has dire implications for patient safety and effective treatment.

Without adequate pharmaceutical oversight, patients are exposed to risks such as drug misuse, counterfeit medication, improper dosing, and fatal drug interactions.

In some facilities, nurses or medical assistants are forced to take on pharmaceutical duties they are not formally trained for — a situation many describe as “a ticking time bomb.”

Furthermore, the shortage undermines Ghana’s ongoing efforts toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and improving public trust in the healthcare system.

Call to Action

Healthcare advocates are urging the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to take immediate steps to recruit and deploy pharmacists across all districts in the region.

They argue that while infrastructure and equipment are vital, human resource availability — particularly pharmacists — is equally critical to achieving quality healthcare delivery.

The latest campaign, symbolically dubbed “Red Friday,” calls for nationwide solidarity to press home the urgency of the issue.

Advocates are urging the government not only to hire more pharmacists but also to review placement policies, improve working conditions, and ensure equitable distribution of healthcare professionals across all regions.