Aderibigbe Ayodele, medical practitioner and the deputy chairman Nigerian Medic Association (NMA) Kwara State chapter has stressed the need for Nigeria government engaged pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs in the country.
He says the only way Nigerians can get drugs cheap is for the drugs to be produced in the country, saying the drugs are expensive because those drugs are imported.
Speaking at the 2020 press week programme of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kwara State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin on Tuesday, Ayodele said that the federal government should create an enabling environment for drug manufacturers to produce locally.
Many factors according to him account for the high cost of drugs, especially, drugs for non-communicable diseases.
“It is beyond the scope of what NMA can do. What we must continue to do is to beg the government.
“Nigeria cannot make drugs. The vaccine we gave those children in government hospitals is donated to Nigeria for free. That is why they say in hospitals they don’t charge you for vaccines but they still charge you for cotton wool and spirit. Can’t Nigeria manufacture these drugs?,” he said.
Ayodele, who said that pharmaceutical companies would produce drugs at more affordable prices when the government created an enabling environment for drug manufacturers, added that the government must also strengthen regulatory bodies to ensure that drugs manufactured in Nigeria contain advertised ingredients.
“Most of the drugs you see in Nigeria apart from being fake, they are substandard. You go to hospital, they give you 500mg paracetamol. But some people went back to the labs and you will find out that it does not contain 500mg.
“It contains only 200mg but they wrote 500mg on it. How can it work? How will the person get better despite paying money for it? The ones produced in Nigeria are not produced properly they are fake. Those are the problems we have.
“So, the government should also ensure that our regulatory bodies do the needful. Sanction any drug manufacturing company that is putting lesser quantities in drugs and sells to the people.
“Government should give the manufacturer an enabling environment. All the raw materials are in this country. It is just the failure of leadership. That is why we cannot manufacture those things and the only way we can get drugs cheap is for the drugs to be produced in Nigeria”, he said.
The medical expert, who advised journalists to pay adequate attention to their health, said that early detection of sickness saves lives, adding that people should go for regular medical check-ups such as tests for sugar level, blood test, blood pressure, among others to detect sickness in early stage.
Ayodele equally charged journalists to double check all medical posts on the internet from medical experts before disseminating such, saying that fake medical news abound in circulation.
