Government urged to reduce taxes on essential medicines.

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Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
A group of researchers engaged by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to study the prices of medicines in Ghana have recommended a reduction in taxes and tariffs on all essential medicines to make them affordable.
Using figures from the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) of July 1, 2004 which placed the lowest government worker at ¢9,348.30 or slightly over US$1.00 per day, the survey indicated that about 45 per cent of Ghanaians could not afford essential medicines.
The research revealed that import duties, port charges and what it termed facility mark-ups, also contributed greatly to the high price of medicines.
To further reduce the costs, the group in addition called for the encouragement and support of local manufacturing of essential medicines.
The study, which was published in 2006, with the title, “Medicine Prices in Ghana: A Comparative Study of Public, Private and Mission Sector Medicine Prices” was a collaborative effort between the MOH through the Ghana National Drugs Programme (GNDP), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Health Action International, a non governmental organisation (NGO).
As part of the survey, the cost of usual treatment was calculated for some common diseases, which were compared to the daily wage of the lowest paid government worker.
Affordability, according to the report, was measured by the cost of treatment in relation to the income of the lowest government worker, which was as of July 1, 2004 when the data was collected, ¢9,348.30 or slightly over US$1.00 per day.
Based on these figures, the survey revealed that in Ghana, where about 45 per cent of the population lived on less than US$1.00 per day, and the lowest government worker earned only about US$1.00 per day, the prices of medicines were high.
The survey indicated that it would require 3.9 days’ wages for such a person to purchase artesunate amodiaquine which was the country’s first line treatment of malaria from a private facility and 2.8 days’ wages to buy the same medicine from a mission hospital.
“For the treatment of severe hypertension requiring a combination of two or more medicines, the lowest government worker required similar number of days’ wages to buy the atenolol and hydrochlorothiazide for a 30-day treatment in all three sectors: 1.7 days in the public and mission sectors; and two days’ wages in the private retail pharmacy sector”, it noted.
Touching on treatment of typhoid fever, the report said the lowest paid worker would require six days wages to buy the lowest priced generic medicine (ciprofloxacin) in all the three sectors
Other recommendations made by the researchers included the implementation of the policy on generic prescription and dispensing, since generic medicines were normally cheaper and affordable.
They also touched on the need to develop guidelines for all sectors, and to enforce compliance with a maximum mark-up policy, adding that policy makers should explore avenues for the establishment of an autonomous National Polled Procurement System to cater for all sectors of the health system.
It was also suggested that the findings of the survey should be used for more in-depth review of policy options to improve access to medicines in general.