History of Pharmacy

History of Pharmacy

• It involves preparing convenient materials from natural and synthetic sources for disease treatment and prevention
• It includes knowledge of drug identification, selection, action, preservation, standardization, and distribution
• The term "pharmacy" comes from the Greek word "pharmakon," meaning medicine or drug
• A pharmacist is an expert in all aspects of drugs and medicines
• Physicians, dentists, and veterinarians prescribe drugs with interest in patient effects, therapeutic value, and toxicology
• Nurses administer drugs, focusing on dosage and toxic manifestations
• Pharmacists are professionally responsible for comprehensive drug knowledge
• Pharmacy programs provide the necessary background for understanding drugs completely
• People have tried to protect themselves from diseases, making pharmacy inseparable from human history
• The oldest known pharmaceutical records are from Babylonia and Egypt around 1500 BC
• Ancient people knew basic drug administration forms
• Before The Middle Ages, pharmacy and medicine were practiced together by healing practitioners
• Healing also involved supernatural powers and religion
• Greeks sought rational explanations for treating diseases but accepted the supernatural
• Apollo and Asklepios were the greatest healing gods
• Apollo is an important Greek and Roman deity linked to light, the sun, truth, prophecy, medicine, plague, music, and archery
• Medicine and healing were associated with Apollo and his son Asclepius, as well as ill-health and plague
• Apollo's custodianship included dominion over colonists and patronage of herds, flocks, music, and poetry
• Asklepios was a Greek hero and god of medicine and healing, son of Apollo and Coronis, with five daughters: Aceso, Iaso, Panacea, Aglaea, and Hygieia
• The Asclepian snake-entwined staff is how Asklepios was distinguished and continues as the symbol of modern medicine
• The cock was sacred to Asclepius and sacrificed at his altar
• Zeus killed Asclepius for raising Hippolytus from the dead, angering Apollo who murdered the Cyclops that made Zeus’ thunderbolts
• Zeus banished Apollo from the night sky and commanded him to serve King Admetus of Thessaly
• After Asclepius' death, Zeus placed him among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus
• Miracles happened at the touch of the sacred serpent of Asclepios
• The serpent-entwined staff of Asklepios gradually became the global symbol of medicine
• Hygieia, one of Asklepios' daughters, held a serpent-entwined bowl with healing potion
• Hygieia's bowl is the official pharmacy symbol in most countries
• Pharmacy is symbolized as "Rx" in some places
• The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana uses a pestle and mortar, an engraved Rx, and a capsule on a leaf encircled by a flower, with the saying "Amicus Humanis Generis"
• Christian monasteries became centers of intellectual life, including pharmacomedical study and practice
• Pharmacy gradually separated from medicine during the second half of the European Middle Ages

Separation From Medicine

• Pharmacy separated from medicine and evolved independent standards and responsibilities outside monasteries
• This trend began early in Italy, Spain, and France due to drug transit and knowledge flowing from Islamic civilizations
• The early rise of pharmacists independently was during the 9th Century
• Medicine and pharmacy gradually separated over thousands of years
• Early physicians practiced pharmacy, then apprentices called apothecaries gradually grew to oversee shops
• Apothecaries were the forerunners of pharmacists in some countries, and general practitioners in others
• Exotic goods brought growing interest for medicine
• Around 1542, apothecaries acted as unpaid medical attendants
• Apothecaries became recognized medical practitioners equal to physicians in about 1721
• A law was later passed to prevent grocers from operating apothecary shops
• Druggists continued as crude drug vendors, ignoring the law

Dispensing Assistants

• Introduction of dispensing assistants from druggists and apothecary assistants
• They gained independence as suppliers and vendors, becoming chemists or pharmaceutical chemists
• Chemists were by then preparing and selling chemical remedies
• The modern pharmacist's forerunners are most likely the dispensary assistants & chemists
• They trained others and gained wider knowledge than druggists

Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

• Apothecaries gave more attention to medical practice and led to pharmaceutical services duly filled by druggists and dispensing assistants.
• A bill passed in England in 1851 and gave recognition to dispenser and vendor status to chemists and druggists
• The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was formed to consolidate the status and establish a system of education and examination

History of Pharmacy in Ghana

• In 1897, the government planned to establish a school for the dispensing of Doctor prescriptions
• Training was established in 1923
• Sergeant Hart was appointed to train local staff in Accra hospital
• Requirements were a standard 7, with enrollment for 3 students for 2 years courses
• The school transferred to Korle-Bu hospital in 1927 for expansion
• Due to growing demand, a scheme for assistants with knowledge of nursing and dispensing was instituted to prescribe and compound drugs
• Required a Cambridge School Certificate with Chemistry and Biology A pass
• Was a 9-month course that was devoted to surgery, basic nursing, followed by 2.5 years of dispensing instructions
• Topics included toxicology, material medica, therapeutics, and simple calculations
• 3–6 months of training at stock control medical stores, and administer general anesthesia at surgery
• Successful trainees were awarded a dispensing certificate
• Mr. Eric Allman was appointed in 1944 as a chemist and druggist
• Nursing separated from dispensing to allow greater time for training
• Course content became upgraded, and “trainee dispenser” became “trainee pharmacist"
• 3 year course with a certificate of competency for trainees
• Developed to the apprenticeship training scheme private drug stores, the trained drug stores were opened.
• Aspiring trainees enroll after an understudy period as pharmacists
• Candidates should pass the government druggists qualifying examination to be certified
• Mr. Eric Allman starts the night lessons for practical and theory courses in pharmacy
• Kumasi College of Technology was established in 1952, then UST, and now KNUST
• Transferred from Accra to Kumasi, including the dispensing school to expand course content and intake
• Pharmacy and Poisons Board certificate was established in 1953
• The course spans 4 years following O-level, 2 years with Physics/Chemistry/ Biology A-levels and 2 years in pharmacy
• The last batch of students completed the pharmacy and poisons course in 1963
• The school became a diploma training faculty under Eric Allman at UST in 1961
• The first batch of 7 undergraduate pharmacists were enrolled and graduated in 1964
• B. Pharm part one exams taken by student in the first year, in physio,anatomy and pharmacognosy
• A 3-year course was inadequate, given more topics and modern medicine were introduced during the study
• A new 4-year class that promotes mental health students will be imposed in 1969
• Year 4 allows studies in biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutics and instrumentation
• The final assessment will be through reporting the final project
• The undergraduate will go through an internship for 1 year
• Candidates should pass the Pharmacy Qualifying Examination, to be registered in the Pharmacy

Regulatory

• In 1968, a two(2) year diploma course was reintroduced to augment the supply of pharmacists
• Those graduates were regarded as technologists, but was abolished in (1974)
• Since 1964, graduate opportunities were available M.Pharm, MSc, M.Phil and PhD
• The first PhD was awarded in 2007 (M.T. Bayor)

Branches of Pharmacy

• Hospital pharmacy
• Industrial pharmacy
• Forensic pharmacy
• Medical representation
• Retail/community pharmacy
• Academia – Pharmaceutical education and research

Laws & Regulations

• Food and Drugs Law - 1992, PNDCL 305B: (Amendment) Act 523, 1996
• Pharmacy Act - Act 489, 1994
• FDB / FDA
• Pharmacy Council
• PSGH
  • Constitution of PSGH
  • Bye-laws of PSGH
• Constitutions & Bye-laws of Sub-Groups of PSGH
  • GHOSPA
  • CPPA
  • LAPAG
  • ARSPA
  • GPSA
  • IPA
  • AREPI

FDA & The Pharmacy Council

• The Food and Drugs Board (FDB), now Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), was established in 1992 by the Food and Drugs Law (PNDCL 305B) to combat law violations
• PNDCL 305B has been adjusted in the (Amendment Act 523) to elevate health deficiencies
• Drug control were placed under Pharmacy and Drugs Act 64, 1961 prior to 1990
• PNDC enacted Narcotics Drug Control law (PNDCL 236) to prohibit Narcotics in 1990
• Was enacted to combat drugs, but separated into the practice of pharmacies by (PNDC) in 1992
• The Food and Drugs law was authorized in 1992 to enhance advertisement of food, drugs, chemical substances etc
• The Pharmacy Act in 1994 was designed to monitor pharmacies
• August 26 1997 was the inauguration of drug board
• Hudu Mogtari is the CEO (Pharmacist)
• JKN, Nyoagbe is the Registrar (Pharmacist)
• PSGH is to ensure safe medicine to the public, promote education and has control in a local and internal capacity
• Was founded in 1935 (Gold Coast Pharmaceuticals) with William Ayiah Hanson and the society formed again in 1957, with 2 goals in mind
• To help with the benefit of expertise and pharmaceutical to the government
• Encourage collaborations within Pharmacy in a corporate spirit, nationally and world wide