The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences on Thursday, March 24th, 2022, organized its Inaugural Lecture on the theme “Pain; the bane of mankind.” The lecture was delivered by Prof. Gladys Amponsah a fellow of the Academy and a Professor of Anesthesiology. 

The lecture examined the various definition and classifications of pain, how patients react to it, and professed the right way to deal with pain as a patient and a health worker. Prof. Amponsah reiterated the effects of self-medication.  She said, “Self-medication is dangerous, and we need to be careful about drugs and not play with them.” She added that abusing drugs to prevent body pains worsens the health condition of the patient.

She said according to research, Marijuana is the most abused drug in Ghana, and in recent years, Tramadol is one of the drugs being abused amongst young adults. Prof. Amponsah also urged health workers to attend to patients who are in pain even when they do not have money.

She was however worried about the rate of prescription drug abuse and said it has reached an epidemic level and must be a subject of interest for all workers. Prof. Gladys Amponsah in her closing statement said, “Pain is real, pain must be properly managed, substance abuse is real, avoid it and stay alive.”

The lecture was chaired by Emerita Professor Isabella Akyinbah Quakyi, the Acting President, and Vice President of the Science section of the Academy. In her closing remarks, she reiterated that pain must be managed properly in order not to cause further problems.

The Ghana Anesthesia Society at the end of the lecture presented a bouquet to Prof. Gladys Amponsah for her immense contribution to the learning and the association of anesthetics. The President, Dr. Eric Fordjour made the presentation on behalf of the society.

Present at the lectures were fellows of the Academy, doctors from various fields, Accra College of Education, Accra Academy, School of Anesthesia, Ridge and 37, Health Concern Ghana.

Please click the link to watch the full lecture – https://bit.ly/3uHzU9w