[ad_1]
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, on Wednesday, approved about N10.299 billion for the procurement of diagnostic kits for diabetes, antiretroviral drugs for resistant HIV/AIDS patients, antibiotics, antihypertensives and anti-diabetic medications.
Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The FEC meeting was the second of the week.
The Minister said that the government intervention in the health sector was in line with the President’s aspiration to ensure that Nigerians get access to quality and affordable health services.
He explained that out of the total sum, N997 was earmarked for another procurement of antiretroviral drugs for resistant HIV/AIDS patients, N2 billion is for diagnostic kits for diabetes and N4.5 billion is for the procurement of medical commodities such as antibiotics, antihypertensives and anti-diabetic medications.
The sum also includes N2.1 billion for the procurement of a mobile X-ray machine for the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, as well as the rehabilitation and equipping of the hospital with a computerized tomography cat scan and 64-slice CT scan.
He said: “Today (Wednesday) two memos related to the health and social welfare sector, in line with the President’s aspiration to ensure that Nigerians get access to quality health services and that they can afford and for which we’ll be making steady progress.
FEC approved a contract worth 10,299,000,000 naira for various products that are linked to enhancing the accessibility and affordability of health commodities and health services for Nigerians.
“The first category was the third line of antiretroviral drugs. A few weeks ago, we approved the first line of antiretroviral drugs, the second and third line for those who are resistant; Nigeria is putting forth resources, almost 997 million naira worth of contracts, to procure the third line of antiretroviral drugs for those who are HIV infected.
“I believe you will understand the importance of this, given the changes in the global health financing and moving towards most domestic financing to allow Nigerians to continue on treatment as they require.
“The second category is the procurement that was approved for locally manufactured diagnostic kits for diabetes. Diabetes is a major issue in our country. It’s among the fastest-growing segments.
“We have lots of our population suffering from diabetes, and some are not even aware they have diabetes. In addition, we have a local company, one of the first in the continent, that will manufacture these diagnostic test kits in Nigeria for the first time.
“This is a company based in Lagos, which we had commissioned. It’s a private company, but it manufactures in Nigeria. So government is procuring the diagnostic kits the Onpoint blood glucose monitoring system that is manufactured here in Nigeria. This is bringing to life the effort to unlock the healthcare value chain by encouraging local manufacturers.
“So the federal government is procuring two billion naira worth of those diagnostic kits. Out of this total amount that I had mentioned, that will also be in addition Onpoint of the glucose monitoring devices.
“But anybody who has diabetes will know that they will have to monitor over time. So the devices are also being procured and they will be distributed. The health workers will be trained through primary health care centers and other facilities, and those commodities will bring relief to many Nigerians who are poor and vulnerable and cannot otherwise afford it. So that’s also what was approved by the Federal Executive Council.”
He said that President Tinubu had previously indicated that the country needs a medical relief program to lower the cost of other types of medical commodities. He added that antibiotics, antihypertensives, and anti-diabetic medications are among the approved products, in addition to the test kits.
The Minister further explained: “Those are also worth 4.5 billion naira, which will be procured and distributed to help lower the cost. These are also commodities manufactured by local manufacturers here in Nigeria, so we are beginning to pull the demand and patronize our local manufacturers. So that’s one category of the approvals and the FEC today.
“The second approval was with one of our largest teaching hospitals. That’s the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, for which the federal executive council approved the procurement of a mobile X-ray machine and also the rehabilitation and equipment of a computerized tomography CAT scan, a 64-slice CT scan for that teaching Hospital, in the amount of it’s 2.1 billion in total for this hospital.
“The diagnostic services and the clinical care the Nigerians will receive in that hospital will be of the highest quality that we can make it, and it serves as a referral not only in the state where it is located but also in the region where it is located.
“So those are the two main items that the Federal Executive Council considered, which are in line with the transformation in Nigeria’s health sector and mister president has been pursuing we are relentlessly executing.”
The post FEC approves N10.3bn for diagnostic kits, HIV/AIDS, diabetes medications appeared first on Vanguard News.
[ad_2]
Source link
