The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday deliberated extensively on the high cost of medical drugs in the country and resolved to review factors making them unaffordable for the average Nigerian.
Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chambers in the State House, Abuja, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, said the Council approved the establishment of Medipool for competitive pricing and supply of essential medicines across the country.
His words: “Today, the Federal Executive Council considered two elements that were related to health specifically, among other things. The first is in line with the direction of the President for Nigerians to have lower cost of drugs and wider access to essential medicines, quality access. This has been work that we have been undertaking for many months. In fact, for almost a year and a half, government has been trying different ways to reduce the cost, because we know Nigerians were hurting because of rising cost of pharmaceuticals.
“It’s not limited to Nigeria. As you may be aware, even countries as far as the United States are placing executive orders to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals. But in line with the presidential initiative to unlock the healthcare value chain, and the executive order, which the President signed in June 2024, which provided incentives for local manufacturing by taking away tax tariffs for import of raw materials, so that we can encourage our local manufacturers.
“There’s an element of that executive order which is to allow us to shape the market by aggregating the demand in the Nigerian health space and channel that demand to encourage our local suppliers.
“Today, Council approved Medipool. It’s a group purchasing organization for competitive pricing and to be a supplier of essential medicines and healthcare products across Nigeria, through the federal government’s intervention, the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, but also eventually outside that, through federal tertiary hospitals, so that as a buyer, we can negotiate lower prices.
“So it’s using the monopsony power of government as a large buyer of those commodities to negotiate lower prices and then channel those commodities. And the scope includes, but is not limited to, procurement planning, distribution monitoring, supply chain logistics management, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring that local manufacturers are supported and import substitution and the financial management and payment systems, as well as capacity building, training, and contingency planning to ensure steady availability of essential drugs of the quality that Nigerians can benefit from at a lower cost through a public-private partnership.
“And that vehicle, Medipool, has been vetted through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, has been benchmarked with other global group purchasing organizations, including Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and many other countries. And we believe that this is a major intervention that will shape the domestic market, so that the demand for quality pharmaceuticals can be channeled in a way that lowers cost, also improves quality, and stimulates local manufacturing.”
The Minister also disclosed that FEC gave its approval for the procurement and installation of a N2.3 billion cardiac catheterization machine for Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto.
The machine, when installed, will help the hospital provide diagnosis and treatment services for heart and blood vessel patients.
According to Pate: “The second item was the award of contract for the procurement and installation of a cardiac catheterization machine by the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto in the amount of N2.3 billion, essentially to help the university hospital provide diagnosis and treatment services for heart and blood vessel problems, heart attacks, irregular heart rates. Those are very complicated, very serious medical issues.
“The university hospital in Sokoto will now have this capability, which will serve the population in Sokoto State, the North West geopolitical zone of our country, and indeed the country. It will save lives, but also contribute towards reversing outbound medical tourism, because Nigerians can be able to access services which either they were not able to before.
“That is an important step, one more among several other interventions that is further supporting the strengthening of the federal teaching hospitals to train and to provide quality service as part of the transformation of our health sector under the leadership of Mr President.”
