FEC approves Medipool to reduce medicine prices.
The federal government has authorised a new program, known as Medipool, that may reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies for Nigerians.
This was one of the decisions made at the Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by President Bola Tinubu, on Monday at the State House in Abuja.
Professor Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, stated that Medipool is a group purchasing organisation that offers competitive pricing and supplies vital pharmaceuticals and healthcare items throughout Nigeria.
According to him, Medipool was created to aggregate demand from primary care clinics and federal tertiary institutions, allowing the government to use bulk purchasing power to reduce medical expenditures.
The council approved Medipool, a group purchasing organisation that will supply essential medicines and healthcare products in Nigeria through the Federal Government’s basic healthcare provision fund and eventually through federal tertiary hospitals. This will allow buyers to negotiate lower prices.
“So, it’s using the monopsony power of the government as a large buyer of those commodities, negotiating lower prices and then channelling those commodities,” according to him.
The minister went on to say, “And the scope includes, but it’s not limited to, procurement planning, distribution monitoring, supply chain, logistics management, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring that local manufacturers are supported and import substitution, and the financial management and payment systems, as well as capacity building and training, and contingency planning to ensure the steady availability of essential drugs.”
The minister pointed out that similar projects in Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia served as models for the Medipool program.
He stressed that the administration’s goal is to stimulate local manufacture, promote import substitution, and guarantee Nigerians have access to high-quality, inexpensive pharmaceuticals.
The FEC awarded a ₦2.3 billion contract to acquire a cutting-edge cardiac catheterisation machine for Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) in Sokoto.
This, the minister added, was primarily to assist the university hospital in providing diagnosis and treatment services for heart and blood vessel issues, heart attacks, and abnormal heart rates.
“The university hospital in Sokoto will now have this capability, which will benefit the population of Sokoto State, the North West geopolitical zone of our country, and the entire country. It will not only save lives, but it will also help to reverse outbound medical tourism by allowing Nigerians to access services that they were previously unable to obtain,” he noted.