■ DG Sambo says health insurance body to roll out branded drugs
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
NATIONAL Health Insurance
Authority (NHIA), last week,
announced that beginning from
next month, its enrollees would
begin to access drugs and other
health products that are branded
in its name.
NHIA Director General,
Prof. Nasir Sambo, alongside
other officials last week, signed
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with some indigenous
pharmaceutical companies and
Drug Management Organisa-
tions (DMOs) to herald the com-
mencement of the production of
some of drugs listed in the first
phase of the exercise. He said
NHIA branded drugs would be
rolled out by the end of next
month and some states would be
used as pilots of the initiative.
What prompted the de-
cision to produce NHIA
branded drugs?
The initiative was geared to-
wards the strengthening of lo-
cal pharmaceutical companies,
which will ultimately guarantee
medicine security. However, the
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) was for them to com-
mence the production of NHIA
branded drugs for use in all ac-
credited NHIA facilities. We
have been working on this matter
for a long time and we are happy
that results will start trickling in
soon.
What are the benefits
for the NHIA enrolees?
It has huge benefits for the en-
rolees and us. It has been a long
and tortuous journey for us. But
finally, we have signed MoU
with drug manufacturers and
drug management organisations
signalling a new era in services
to enrolees. Top on the list of the
benefits is quality, accessibility
and affordability of drugs by en-
rolees. The cases of unavailabil-
ity or out-of-stock will be a thing
of the past once we roll out these
drugs. Another benefit is the fact
that the branded drugs would be
produced at a discounted rate. We
have even negotiated the prices
very well including the IV fluids,
which would have crashed to 50
per cent. Also, this initiative of
branding NHIA medicines and
other health products is to fa-
cilitate the supply of affordable,
acceptable, accessible, available
and quality medicines and other
health products. In addition to
that, it will enhance the produc-
tion of high-quality medicines
that will inspire the confidence
of users.
What kinds of drugs
would be produced?
In the first phase of the initia-
tive, 33 different kinds of drugs are expected to be produced
by 12 indigenous pharmaceuti-
cal companies and eight Drugs
Management Organizations
(DMOs) that were already en-
gaged to execute the task. These
companies are reputable phar-
maceutical companies in Nige-
ria with track records; hence we
have no doubt in their capacity
and competence. These drugs
would be branded with NHIA
inscriptions. In the first one-
month, they would come up
with the first set of drugs. They
would become available and ac-
cessible to all enrolees at all lev-
els for use.
What criteria were used
to select these indig-
enous pharmaceutical
companies and DMOs?
Sometime in April last year,
we placed advertisements in
some national dailies for the ex-
pression of interest by pharma-
ceutical companies and DMOs
who wish to brand medicines for
the health insurance eco-system,
and DMOs who wish to provide
supply-tailored services within
the ecosystem. A total of 44
submissions were received from
pharmaceutical companies and
DMOs. The submissions were
scrutinized and synthesised by
the selection committee. 20
companies and eight DMOS
were selected to provide ser-
vices for the initiative. Negotia-
tions were held with the selected
pharmaceutical companies and
DMOs. After the negotiations,
agreement was reached with 12 pharmaceutical companies and
eight DMOs, and they would
be branding 33 products for the
health insurance ecosystem in
the first phase.
What categories of
drugs are in the first
phase?
We have made available the
list of drugs that the pharmaceu-
tical companies are expected to
produce. However, we are start-
ing with simple drugs before
heading to the complex ones.
These simple drugs are the ones that are used to attend to prevail-
ing health conditions in Nigeria.
They would provide solutions
to cases like malaria, respira-
tory issues, childhood ailments
and drugs for pregnant women,
among others. Though, they
would be coming in phases but
we are starting with 33 drugs in
phase one, and we move from
there.
How do you intend to
ensure and protect the
quality of these drugs?
That is not our responsibil-
ity. NHIA is not responsible for
monitoring the quality of the
drugs in Nigeria. That’s the duty
of the National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) and they are
deeply involved in the initiative.
They would have the responsi-
bility of certifying all the drugs
that would be manufactured by
the indigenous pharmaceutical
companies. They would also de-
sign a post-marketing strategy
for the drugs to ensure that the
quality and active ingredients
are not tempered with. Ours is to
ensure that the drugs are made
available to our enrolees across
the health facilities in the coun-
try.
Nigerians may be scep-
tical on the quality of
drugs. How will you man-
age their doubts?
The issue of confidence in
the operations of NHIA is in the
past. This is because; NHIA has
undergone some serious reforms
administratively and otherwise.
We have purged ourselves of
the things that made our cli-
ents doubt us. On the matter
of branded drugs, we have on