Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the request of Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, to bulk purchase Nigerian-made pharmaceuticals and locally-manufactured diagnostic test kits for direct, ward-by-ward distribution to all 774 LGAs of the country.
Gatekeepers News reports that the President Bola Tinubu’s landmark National Medical Relief Programme functions to encourage local manufacturing, job creation, and opportunity expansion across the health sector value chain while bringing financial relief and healing to millions of vulnerable Nigerians across local communities nationwide.
Out of the N10.3billion allocation, ₦997 million will be used for third-line antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS patients who have developed resistance to first-line and second-line treatments.
₦2 billion will also bebused for the procurement of locally manufactured diabetes diagnostic kits to improve early detection and monitoring of the disease.
Additionally, ₦4.5 billion will go towards acquisition of essential antibiotics, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic medications.
₦2.1 billion was allocated for procurement of a mobile X-ray machine, rehabilitation of a computerized tomography (CT) scan, and installation of a 64-slice CT scanner at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, which is a regional hub serving several other states.
The diabetes diagnostic kits, which will be procured using part of the ₦2 billion allocation, will be sourced from a Lagos-based Nigerian company, making it one of the first in Africa to produce such medical equipment locally.
