The Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG) has warned that the country risks importing water to support local pharmaceutical production if the illegal mining canker is not addressed urgently.
The society made this warning at its 2024 annual general meeting, citing the devastating impact of illegal mining on water bodies and the subsequent increase in the cost of treating water for manufacturing.
A scene from galamsey activities
According to PSG, the treatment of water for local production of pharmaceutical products is becoming increasingly expensive due to the environmental degradation caused by illegal mining activities.
The society emphasised that this added cost contributes to the high cost of medicine in Ghana.
The PSG President, Dr Samuel Kow Donkoh, warned that if measures are not taken to address the illegal mining menace, Ghana may soon face the reality of importing water to support local manufacturing industries.
He noted that Ghana’s local manufacturers currently produce all the infusions needed in the country, but they require quality water to do so.
The society is urging the government to put stringent measures in place to tackle illegal mining activities, which threaten the sources of water used for various purposes.
“The activities of illegal miners in particular have devastated our water bodies, making it increasingly expensive for pharmaceutical companies to treat water for their manufacturing processes. Ghana currently enjoys self-sufficiency in local production of infusions but illegal mining threatens this achievement.
“If this environmental degradation continues, we may soon face the grave reality of importing water to support our local manufacturing industry. The pollution from these mining activities is so severe that expensive technology is also required to treat water, contributing to the high cost of medicines. We therefore call on the government to take urgent decisive action to end this lawlessness.”
Ghana must urgently adopt the Singaporean waste to energy policy to turn plaguing waste pollution to economic gains- says an Energy Law Consultant.
An energy policy expert has advised the government ministry of sanitation to urgently engage Zoomliion ( a leading waste management firm) , to set up industrial plants to turn waste to electricity generation,turn smoke to sterilize vapour and residue waste as asphalt for road construction,thereby create jobs and skills for thousands of youths.
According to JK Owusu-Boakye( aka General Abito),Singapore generates 250,000 containers of waste daily, 365 days and generate electricity for the city – country and over 60,000 employment, dem stile smoke into atmospheric vapour and used residue as road asphalt.
A game changing waste to energy mechanism, making the city-country clean and out of waste.
This can be done in Ghana (Accra) to get it cleaned as the president said.
Fortunately for Ghana we have Zoomlion Waste Management Company that can turn this policy to workable practice of cleaning Accra and our communities, what are we waiting for, he quibbled?
Zoomlion is in every district in Ghana and as local giant in the Waste Management, there is no gainsaying fact that Ghana can turn a waste menace to positive socioeconomic gains for development in its energy transition agenda 2050.
He advised that ZL should partner YEA to create a Youth in Waste-to- Energy module to capture this new ‘clean city of waste’ ,employment n generation policy in Ghana set on the lines of what is in Singapore.
