By Asmau Ahmad
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) on Thursday says it is working toward the production of drugs exclusively for its enrollees, in partnership with pharmaceutical companies in the country.
It further said that the move was to make drugs readily available to its enrollees and reduce the cost for them.
A Pharmacist with the NHIA in Osun, Ms Mariam Badmus, said this during a one-day interactive forum for security and uniformed service personnel in the state.
Badmus, who educated participants on what to know about NHIA drugs, said that the authority, through its Drug Supply Initiative, had commenced discussions with pharmaceutical companies for partnership in producing NHIA-branded drugs.
“The initiative is to make drugs more available and accessible, eradicate out-of-stock syndrome and change the perception of enrollees about the drugs being dispensed to them, among other issues,” she said.
She also said that the NHIA, in November 2021, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Roach Pharmaceuticals to produce anti-cancer drugs, which were made available at the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan to enrollees in the South-West.
She said that Pfrizer Pharmaceuticals, in October 2022, was also asked to produce Critical care medicine (Meropenem) for enrollees receiving critical health care at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Osun and UCH.
Badmus said that the production of the critical and expensive drugs by the two pharmaceutical companies was through the NHIA Cost Sharing Partnership agreement.
In a remark, Mrs Nafisah Adekunle, Osun NHIA State Coordinator, said that the forum was organised for stakeholders to have an interaction on how the best of health insurance healthcare could be provided and accessed.
The Osun NHIA Assistant Director of Programmes, Mr Abiodun Oyawoye, asked why security personnel, especially the Nigerian Army, do not allow the public to access their health facilities.
Oyawoye said that he asked the question because NHIA was aware that the military had well equipped and one of the best healthcare facilities in the country.
Responding, the representative of the Nigeria Army Engineering Construct Regiment, Ede, said that most civilians were not aware of their health facilities and that the barrack was far-flung from civilian residential areas.
