By Mercy Arthur
Tema, July 1, GNA – Mr Stephen Ohene Sabi, the Head of Pharmacy at Pleasant Medical Centre in Ashaiman Middle East, has advised the public against practising self-medication because of the associated dangers.
He said it was advisable for any person who felt unwell to seek immediate medical treatment at approved medical facilities to prevent health complications.
He said self-medication might also delay the diagnosis of the condition.
Mr Sabi gave the advice when he took his turn at the weekly health education programme dubbed “Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility! an initiative of the Ghana News Agency.
The initiative is aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for health information dissemination to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.
Mr Sabi said although the World Health Organisation advocated self-care, including nutrition, and responsible self-medication would require careful reading of more about the medicine and knowing its side effects or associated reactions after consumption.
“It means that before taking any medicine, one needs to have adequate information about the medicine and seek advice from a health expert before self-medication,” he noted.
He further cautioned individuals, who were fond of abusing medications by taking overdoses, to avoid doing so due to the harmful side effects.
“Even though some medicines have minor side effects such as constipation, headache, and diarrhoea, some can cause severe side effects that may end up requiring intervention at the health facility,” he said.
He advised patients to stick to the prescribed dosage and schedules by their physicians because some medicines could become addictive when taken above the limit.
Mr Sabi also encouraged females who may require a supplement of blood tonic after their menstrual cycles to seek proper advice from a health professional, depending on the situation before such purchases were made.
However, “Eating healthy meals that can replace lost blood is advisable, rather than without taking a blood tonic,” he said.
Mr Sabi advised that if one has any health conditions such as kidney or liver problems, among others, they could not take any medications unless they had been prescribed by a physician and should avoid irresponsible self-medication.
GNA