THE Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, on Tuesday, April 30, bemoaned the rising cost of drugs in the country.
He noted that the prices of drugs were high while less than 10 per cent of the population had health insurance, putting much financial burden on citizens to pay out-of-pocket for health.
Pate, joined by other stakeholders, including the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Mojisola Adeyeye and former Minister of Health Adewale Adelusi-Adeluyi, highlighted the major problems associated with the continuous rise in drug prices during a webinar organised by The Cable.
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The webinar, with the theme: ‘Addressing The Escalating Cost of Medicines and Medical Consumables’ identified possible solutions that could alleviate the situation and ensure equitable access to essential healthcare.
The ICIR reports that Nigerians currently face the challenge of paying more for drugs.
Some of the reasons are ballooning inflation and exit of pharmaceutical companies from the country because of skyrocketing costs of doing business.
For instance, in 2023, a major pharmaceutical firm, GlaxoSmithKline(GSK), producer of prescribable medicine such as Augmentin and Amoxil, disclosed its strategic plan to stop the commercialisation of its prescription medicine and vaccines in Nigeria and transition to a third-party distribution model for its pharmaceutical products, citing foreign exchange concerns.
The company was one of the firms that left the nation that year.
The development, according to a report, were traced to the steady depreciation of the naira against major global currencies since President Bola Tinubu took office, along with the deregulation of the foreign exchange market, which has triggered a series of economic crises.
Speaking on the challenges, Pate noted that many Nigerians financed their health out-of-pocket.
“The financing of healthcare in Nigeria and affordability has been a longstanding issue for more than 40 years. Less than 10 per cent of Nigerians have no health insurance or any insurance to speak of, which means most of them are financing out-of-pocket,” Pate said.
He also stated that the issue of high drug costs was of great concern to the government, noting that since November 2023, the ministry had engaged with industry players, practitioners, and different stakeholders to address it.
Pate further explained that if Nigeria had built an industrial base to manufacture APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) decades ago, the country would have experienced much less impact from the increasing global price of APIs and other disruptions in the supply chain.
“But nonetheless, we are focused on solving the issue. And we’ll be working hard to do so through the presidential initiative to unlock the health care, which, as you recall, Mr. President, announced,” he added..
Pate also said plans were underway to reform the health insurance landscape, adding that the President had directed the ministry to find solutions to the underlying problem.
The ICIR reports that the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which metamorphosed into the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), and less than 10 per cent of nearly 230 million Nigerians are yet to be enrolled in the programme since then.
In his earlier remark, the chairman of the event, former minister of health, Adewale Adelusi-Adeluyi, said as long as the pharma industry was involved, in the long run, the country had to go into industrialisation.
“Many African countries make long speeches and write long policies. Some of the policies are as good as anywhere in the world, but when it comes to implementation, many African countries fall flat on the face, including Nigeria.”
He also emphasised improved funding for the health sector, adding that whatever was available should be used effectively.
Other issues highlighted
The panelists at the webinar explained some of the underlying causes of the high cost of drugs and its implications for Nigerians while also proffering solutions.
The panelists were the NAFDAC boss, President Nigerian Medical Association, Uche Ojinma, Executive Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of MAN, Frank Muonomeh; Executive Secretary of Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Chisom Uchem.
Speaking on drug insecurity, the NAFDAC DG said Nigeria must focus on local manufacturing to avoid continuous drug insecurity.
According to Adeyeye, manufacturers import everything they use in the production process except water.
She stated that NAFDAC was leading in Africa and second in the world with technology to track and trace.
“We are doing hand-holding to ensure local manufacturers are using international standards that adds quality to the lives of Nigerians, and their products are fit for export,” she added.
Uchem, on her part, argued that the inability to access drugs resulted in therapeutic failure, adding that the government must encourage experts to research the use of our local herbal remedies for production.
