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A VISITING Professor to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. Alex Dodoo has challenged higher education institutions, particularly, universities in the country to create and share knowledge to support national development.

Creating and sharing knowledge to him is the ability of these higher institutions to embark on research and using them to positively impact on the economy of the country.

Prof Dodoo was speaking in an interview after the opening of the Pharmacy Graduate Students week celebration of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FPPS), KNUST in Kumasi.

The opening was chaired by the immediate-past Executive Director of the Council for Tertiary Education, Prof Mahama Duweija with able support from the Dean of Graduate Studies, Prof Kyei Baffour and the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Prof. Tsiri Agbenyega.

Reacting to the theme of the week celebration: "Collaborative Research and Health - The Way Forward in Ghana", he said universities in particular, must continue to enjoy academic freedom but they must help to impact on the Ghanaian economy in a non-partisan way.

He noted that the 21st Century economy at the global level was a knowledge-based economy and Ghana must live as such.

He again noted that most developed countries had depended so much on creating and sharing of knowledge (research) collaboratively among higher education institutions and that Ghana as a developing country could learn from that.

He observed that the country was plagued in road accidents, alcoholism among people at the helm of affairs and other threats to national development and it was pertinent for these higher education institutions to research into and bring the knowledge out of the research to bear on the Ghanaian economy.

He urged universities to accept the challenge to creating and sharing knowledge and Pharmacists to help in solving up-to-the-neck problems in education, health care and sanitation.

He said by sharing available research in collaborative way, universities would be able to lead in the provision of jobs and with a sense of purpose, transform the country within the shortest possible time.

"Universities must lead in the provision of jobs through the creation and sharing of collaborative research. Creating knowledge and not sharing is criminal", he stated.

Promotion of research vital

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the KNUST, Rev. Prof. Charles Ansah emphasised the need for research to impact on the wellbeing of the people.

For that reason he said promotion of research was vital and called on authorities of higher education institutions to place premium on research.

He indicated that the Office of the Vice Chancellor had increased research fund to support post-graduates to be able to embark on research works effectively.

Patient-centered Pharmacy practice

The Dean of the FPPS, Prof. Mrs Rita Dickson noted that in the current dispensation where the practice of pharmacy had become more Patient-centered than medication oriented, it was imperative to harness the needed impact from research.

She said resources were limited in the myriad of health problems and that the Pharmacy society would need to be strategic in the use the limited resources to get more out of the little available.

She said the FPPS was proud of the 137 graduate students made up of 25 PhD and 112 Masters students and urged them to positively impact on society on their research works.

She assured that the faculty was committed to proving the kind of training that would equip students to provide needed solutions to the myriad health challenges to contribute their quota to national development.

The Faculty Graduate Week Planning Committee Chairman, Dr Joseph K. Adu had hinted that speakers at the celebrations were expected to highlight on areas including collaboration between academia and related institutions such as health, regulatory and Pharmaceutical industries to improve on research, improving healthcare through research and gaining international recognition through research.

The Representative of the graduate students at the FPPS, Mr Aaron Opoku Antwi said he was conducting research in the area of Pharmacology, finding alternative in market in the development of drugs.