MINISTER of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has described the continued expenditure of "billions" of naira to import essential drugs and related clinical prod ucts that can be manufactured locally as unacceptable.
He called on the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to partner with local drug manufacturers as well as herbal medicine practitioners to improve the country's capacity to produce these drugs.
Adewole stressed that it was disappointing that billions of "hard-earned" monies were used to import basic necessities such as mosquito nets and other drugs that could be produced in the country.
Speaking at the presentation of NAFDAC Guidelines 2016 in Abuja, Adewole therefore directed NAFDAC to partner with Universities of Zaria, Enugu, Ibadan and Jos to enhance research into local production of drugs.
He said: "When we came on board, what we were mandated-to do was to develop health agenda-for the nation. Doing so, we worked [on delivering health .to aU Nigerian citizens. The APe manifesto documented ai new commitment to health, but we needed to build on this."We will make essential medicines available; make sure that we have self-sufficiency in local production and clinical practice. We will also ensure that we keep substandard products out ofNigeria. I believe that many of the key products that we use in this country can be labeled as medical devices, including the Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets, LLIN. Please, ensure that these are produced in Nigeria. "There is actually no reason why we should spend billions of our hard-earned money on importing nets from other countries when they can be produced in this country".
In her remark, Acting Director-General NAFDAC, Yetunde Oni, explained that the guidelines for the agency's regulatory activities were developed through the support of World Health Organization, PATH 2 and UK AID. She listed the guidelines to include: good pharmacovigilance practice guideline 2016; good distribution practices guidelines for pharmaceutical products 2016; good manufacturing practice guidelines for pharmaceutical products 2016; good clinical practice guidelines 2016; and good practices for pharmaceutical quality control laboratories guidelines 2016. In another development, Adewole identified provision of universal health coverage to Nigerians as top priority to the federal government. He disclosed this in Abuj a during an official visit to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
The minister further disclosed that to meet its target, the federal Government is mobilizing required resources to make 10,000 Primary Health Care centers functional in all the political wards in the country in the next two years.
According to the him each of the 10,000 centers, which would be one per political ward, would be designed to operate 24 hours each day with a view to providing comprehensive PHC services, including maternal and child health services.
The PHC agenda of the administration, the Minister stated, was geared towards providing universal care to about 100 million vulnerable Nigerians, while also addressing the huge financial burden of out of pocket expenditure which has over the years hindered access to health care.
Meanwhile, the minister commended the leadership of the National Primary Health Care Development A-gency on the Polio eradication .achievement. by the country. He assured - the leadership of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency leadership of his total support on primary health care revitalization and primary health care under one roof in- the country. Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Director, National Primary Health . Care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad highlighted the major achieve ment of-the Agency, on-going projects and the challenges.
According to Muhammad, Nigeria had no single case of wild polio virus in the past 20 months, recalling Nigeria deli sting from Polio-endemic Countriesy World Health Organization (WHO) in October last year.
He also disclosed that Nigeria had no case of vaccine stock out in the last 2 years, adding that the country had enough vaccines that would last her till the first quarter of 2017. The Executive Director announced that the Agency would soon strengthen each state of the Federation on primary health care with impending deployment of management staff to head the National Primary health Care DevelopmentAgency offices at the State levels.
By: Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
Daily Sun News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
Comrade Lemii Christian Emerges Chairman of NANNM Rivers State Branch in Historic Victory
PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA Following the long awaited National Association of N…
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
