TheCable

Frank Muonemeh, executive secretary of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), says the country should reduce its dependence on imported drugs.

Muonemeh spoke on Tuesday at a webinar themed ‘Addressing the escalating costs of medicines’, organised by TheCable to mark its 10th anniversary.

He said Nigeria must prioritise locally produced drugs over imported medicines.

According to the executive secretary, the production of local medicines must be taken as a national security issue.

“I must say that as a country, we need to start seeing medicine security, being able to manufacture our own medicines, comparable to national security issues,” Muonemeh said.

“There is a linkage between medicine security, national security, and even achieving this universal healthcare coverage. It’s important that we put that in the forefront, or else we will miss the opportunity of COVID-19. If we do not approach it from a very different strategy, we will also miss this opportunity.

“It is an opportunity for us to reverse the dependency of Nigeria on imported medicines and I want to say that the statement made that locally manufactured medicines are more expensive is not empirical.”

“But then, I must also tell you, we have a lot of borders in Nigeria that are not manned and this is one of the greatest fears of most of us.”

Muonemeh said Nigeria will face a lot of counterfeited products due to an increase in the cost of goods.

He, however, said local manufacturers are trying to control the rising cost of medicines.

The secretary said they are in talks with the government, particularly, Ali Pate, minister of health, to develop a better strategy to turn things around.