From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, on Thursday, received hypertension drugs worth N15 million.
the drugs are called Coveram from Servier International to take care of patients who could not afford the drugs abroad.
Receiving the drugs on behalf of the governor, Commissioner for Health, Doctor Paul Manya Dogo, described the intervention as unique because the drug could only be accessed by the rich due to non-availability in the country.
According to him, “The drug is original. I have seen and confirmed that and this is a new interventional development in the area of hypertension disease in the state. Because they are not readily available in the country, that makes it so expensive and difficult to get for ordinary Nigerians.
“Now that the donour have brought it to our door step, it means Kaduna is one of the first few states to be privileged to have the drug for our people who may have been diagnosed with either hypertension and we want to sincerely thank them for the choice of Kaduna as a pilot state.
“This is another proof that the current administration is not relenting at making quality healthcare delivery to our people. The administration has within two years improved the health sector of its economy tremendously and we are happy that even people outside the country are recognising that and are now coming to support us. We want to call on others organizations to join us in this live-saving initiative for the betterment of common man”, added the commissioner.
Earlier in a remark, Director of Operations, Servier International for the Middle East and Africa Division, Dominic Ayoola, said his team was in Kaduna because they have seen what the state government is doing and ready to support them in that direction.
According to Ayoola, “Kaduna State has been very proactive state as regard healthcare and we have seen them doing a number of innovative things with a lot of multi-nationals. So we saw this might just be a very good avenue to meet with states that are willing to attend to health needs of their people.
“We are here to see how will can help reduce the burden of hypertension and diabetes though we are still planning that of diabetes. The drug we are donating to this ministry worth N15m. This is basically new, not available in many countries but we have decided to bring the opportunity to people of Kaduna State especially those who have the disease and could not afford it.
“To make sure the drugs are available, we are empowering Nigeria in local manufacturing to make it affordable for all. We are looking at a situation where every Nigerian will be able to afford quality drug not necessarily tearing their pockets”, he added.