The Food and Drugs Authority received a donation of laboratory equipment from the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) at a brief ceremony on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
The Managing Director of United States Pharmacopeia (USP) Ghana, Mr Kwasi Poku Boateng, indicated that the decision to donate some laboratory equipment stemmed from USP Ghana’s resolve to opt out of third-party testing.
The donation is also for the FDA to channel resources towards the provision of technical support and building institutional capacities.
He further indicated that the decision to donate the equipment to the FDA is borne out of the conviction, at the USP, that they will be put to good use to improve public health and safety.
Items donated to the FDA by the USP Ghana include four major pieces of equipment made up of the following: (i) a Gas Chromatograph coupled with a headspace sampler (GC-HSS), (ii) a High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), (iii) a dissolution tester; and (iv) Disintegration apparatus required for the physicochemical analysis of pharmaceutical products of various dosage forms.
Other analytical equipment donated to the FDA include a microbalance, sonicator, aspirator pump, zero air gas generator, nitrogen generator, hydrogen generator and a digital thermometer.
Receiving the items, the Chief Executive Officer of the FDA, Dr. Delese Darko said that the items donated had come at an opportune time especially as the FDA drug laboratory has recently attained WHO pre-qualification status.
She looks forward to increased demand from in-country, regional and continental sources for testing.
Dr Delese Darko expressed FDA’s gratitude to the USP Ghana for the generous donation and assured them that the donated equipment will be put to good use and maintained to enhance the Authority’s efforts at safeguarding public health and safety.