Nigerian govt approves new policy to lower cost of pharmaceutical products

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, says the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved Medipool, a group purchasing organisation, as the supplier of essential healthcare products across Nigeria.

Mr Pate said this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the sixth FEC meeting of the year on Monday.

He said the Medipool project would be executed through the federal government’s Basic Health Care Provision Fund, and also eventually through federal tertiary hospitals, to 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 to the areas of need.

“The scope includes procurement planning, distribution monitoring, supply chain, logistics management, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring that local manufacturers are supported.

“It also covers import substitution, financial management and payment systems, capacity building and training and contingency planning to ensure steady availability of essential drugs through public-private partnership,” Mr Pate said.

He said Medipool had been vetted through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and benchmarked with other global group purchasing organisations in Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and many other countries.

“We believe that this is a major intervention that will shape the domestic market, so that the demand for quality pharmaceuticals can be channelled in a way that lowers cost and also improves quality and stimulates local manufacturing,” he said.

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Mr Pate stated that for almost a year and a half, the government had been trying different ways to reduce the costs of pharmaceutical products because Nigerians were hurting from rising costs.

“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.

“This is in line with the presidential initiative to unlock the healthcare value chain, and the Executive Order, which the president signed in June 2024.

“That Executive Order provided incentives for local manufacturing by taking away tariffs for import of raw materials to encourage local manufacturers,” he said.

He added that an element of that Executive Order allowed the ministry to shape the market by aggregating the demand in the Nigerian health space, and to encourage local suppliers.

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Mr Pate said FEC also approved the award of a contract for the procurement and installation of a cardiac categorisation machine by the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, at the cost of N2.3 billion.

He said this would help the university teaching hospital provide diagnosis and treatment services for heart and blood vessel problems, heart attacks, and irregular heart rates.

“Those are very complicated, very serious medical issues. The University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto will now have this capability to 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 toward reversing outbound medical tourism, because Nigerians would be able to access services which hitherto they were not able to,” the minister said.

(NAN)