…5m affected Nigerians stand to benefit
SOPE OGUNDIPE FROM VANGUARD
As an urgent effort to lower the rising cost of treating non-communicable ailments such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, among others, the Federal government has been urged to abolish import taxes on vital medications towards making them more affordable and accessible to Nigerians.
Making the call in Lagos, the Diabetes Control Media Advocacy Initiative, DICOMAI, urged Federal and state governments to provide free diabetes management to children and the elderly.
In a statement signed by its Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Afoke Isiavwe, and Executive Director, Sam Eferaro, DICOMAI expressed outrage over the current high cost of drugs, which have risen as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies and other policies, urging the federal government to take urgent action to lower the costs of drugs and other medical treatments for the poor.
They said, “At the moment access to health care in all parts of the country has become more difficult as the cost of life-saving drugs has gone beyond the reach of most Nigerians. The situation is worse for people suffering from serious conditions some of which require life-long therapeutic management.
“Many people living with diabetes currently have their lives hanging in the balance as the condition is now more difficult than ever, to control now that the cost of drugs and monitoring devices are no longer affordable.
“Cases of parents not giving their children vital insulin at the right doses are now becoming rampant. For some people, they have been forced to stop taking their regular drugs and are at the risk of developing serious complications.”
Further, they lamented that as a result of incapacity to manage their disease, more Nigerians, are getting diabetes complications, leading to non-traumatic lower extremity amputations, extended hospital stays, and occasionally preventable deaths.
“There’s, therefore, a need to urgently bring down the cost of drugs for some of these conditions. Unfortunately, over 70 percent of medicines used in the country are imported.
“The situation is even worse for conditions such as cancer and diabetes…
