He said the government rather than partner local
pharmaceutical industries for manufacturing of high quality of drugs, and,
medicines, what the government has been doing is issuing licences for
importation of drugs and collection of revenues from the importers.
Obi made the statement at the 6th Public Lecture of the
Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (BOF-PSN) held at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka yesterday.
Obi who was the keynote speaker on the lecture topic:
“Access to Quality Medicine in An Unstable Environment”, stated that catering
for the health of the citizens is one major priority of any government, but,
lamented that due to leadership incompetence in the country the issue of health
in the country is not being given attention it deserved.
Obi stated that he visited a primary health centre in an
outskirt of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and discovered that
there were 50 pregnant women in the hospital, and there was just one medical
staff attending to them.
He stated that there were about 24,000 primary health
centres in the country, but lamented that none of them is functional.
He also lamented the allocation to health as contained in
the current national budget saying that there was need to prioritise issues
concerning health such that in addition to providing health insurance to all
the citizens, there should be a deliberate policy by government to ensure local
manufacture of drugs and medicines.
He noted that drug whichh used to sell for the sum of N5,000
now sells for N18,000.
He also took a swipe at the governments at state and federal
levels for giving priority to equipping health clinics at governors’ clinics,
Presidency and National Assembly while those for the citizens are neglected.
“We need to dismantle the type of leadership we have in the
country, and install a government that will provide good governance, otherwise,
we can’t move forward,” he said.
He lamented that Nigeria is a signatory to the SDGs, but,
since the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has not been able to establish any
laboratory to conduct tests for diseases.
The chairman BOF-PSN, Dr. Joel E. B. Adagadzu praised Peter
Obi for his commitment and sacrifices in championing crusade for a new Nigeria.
He stated that pharmacists In the country are also committed
to improving the health sector in the country.
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