The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) weekend assured Nigerians of its determination to make drugs affordable in the country.
The FG assured that the current high cost of medicines in the country will become a thing of the past as they are in partnership with pharmaceutical industry, working hard to bring down the cost of drugs.
Speaking on high cost of medicine, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, said government will stand up to its responsibility of ensuring that various policy measures are put in place by the President Bola Tinubu administration to reflect positively in the cost of essential medical commodities in Nigeria.
He noted that the escalating costs of pharmaceuticals is part of the global phenomenon and expressed regrets that for past 20 years, the nation has been doing catch- up, but the present administration is focused on solving the issue.
‘’We are working hard to do so through the Presidential Initiative to unlock the Pharmaceutical Value Chain (PVC) that the president announced in October 2023. But two pockets of issues underlying what we are observing now in Nigerians are hurting.
“There’s forex devaluation which is on the supply side and ability to buy materials, equipment are on the infrastructure deficit. “Some infrastructure for manufacturing that we have is not at the level that could meet up the demand that we have,’’ he said.
The minister noted that financing of healthcare in Nigeria, the affordability has been a long-standing issue for more than 40 years, adding that less than 10 per cent of Nigerians have health insurance or any issuance, of which means the cost of our financing healthcare is out of pocket, hence, when prices go up, the medically related reimbursement for medical care also goes up.
