By Kelechi Mgboji
Assistant Business Editor
Some Nigerians have already died. Others on life-saving drugs are dying in instalments because their prescription drugs are out of supply or not affordable.
Families across the country with patients surviving on such drugs grapple with the reality of losing them in avoidable circumstances.
Suspension of imports
Investigation by TheNiche showed that most dealers suspended imports of the pharmaceutical products (also called ethical drugs) after the prices hit the roof and beyond the reach of average Nigerians.
Insulin, mephromin, glipremin, and all drugs for the treatment of diabetecs, hypertension, and cancer are scarce as the products are no longer coming in.
Dealers said they are running out of stock.
Pharmaceutical products dealers, most of whom are based in the Idumota axis of Lagos Island, complain that they cannot access foreign exchange (forex) for costly drugs.
It was learnt that over 20 dealers have not got dollar allocation more than five months after filing forms with their banks.
In some cases, banks return money, saying they cannot raise the dollar equivalent of the millions of naira dealers deposited.
Expired N30m worth of drugs
Lagos Medicine Dealers Association (LSMDA) Island Branch Chairman, Felix Ugbojiaku, explained that his members further got discouraged from importing drugs because at the current exchange rate of over N350 per dollar, drugs are no longer affordable to average Nigerians.
He disclosed that some dealers bear huge losses arising from stock customers cannot buy as business lull worsens.
He lamented that over N30 million worth of drugs which have expired due to low patronage will have to be turned over to the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Dollar scarcity, high forex rate
Ugbojiaku said most prescription drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, kidney ailments, and many other serious health conditions are imported.
His words: “Those drugs are nowhere to be found in reasonable quantity any longer. NAFDAC gives special permit for importers to bring those drugs into the country.
“The reason why they are scarce is that the hard currency (dollar) used in buying the drugs are nowhere to be found, in addition to the high cost of dollar exchange.
“Even when you have all the money to buy, you can’t get dollars. Some of our colleagues’ proforma invoices have been with their bankers since January this year.
“After processing documents for imports, the waiting game begins. Letter of Credit (LC) can only be opened when there is availability of funds, which is the dollar equivalent of any amount of naira you paid.
“In some cases, after about four to five months, when the banks go for bidding severally without success, they would call you to take back your money.
“I know more than 10 of our colleagues whose documents have been processed with their money tied down with the banks for the past five or six months, and they could not get dollars.”
National Association of General Practice Pharmacists Employers (NAGPPE) President, Gabriel Onyejemuo, warned that “in a few months time, the country may experience a very deadly situation in the health sector because the drugs to save certain lives may not be found in our contracting drug market.”
According to him, those who have the drugs do not want to bring them out because of the depreciating naira value against dollar at the parallel market.
“If they do, they are going to suffer because they won’t get the dollar to bring in drugs again.”
He said some dealers put their own stock on the market because of the expiration date.
“If not for reason of expiration date of the drugs, there would have been unprecedented scarcity by this time when naira-dollar exchange rate has depreciated terribly.”
Former Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) President, Azubuike Okwor, also reiterated that the drugs for diabetes, hypertension, cancer and other diseases have gone out of the reach of most Nigerians.
“If you manage hypertension, diabetes, cancer, et cetera now, and you are on top class drugs that will hold your system where you want it to be, the prices of those medicines are not any where near what ordinary Nigerians can afford,” he stressed.
Solution suggested by Ugbojiaku
Ugbojiaku urged the government to set up a special intervention fund for the pharmaceutical industry to save lives.
“There is need for the government to give priority attention to importers of pharmaceutical products.
“There has to be a standing directive that documents and applications for pharmaceutical imports should be processed speedily and backed up with funds. Dollar has to be made available to this category of importers without delay.”
He also called for the establishment of a bank dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry with N1 trillion capital base, to assist both manufacturers and importers, and lift the sector to international standards.
“For the pharmaceutical bank, the government should consider it as urgent and set aside a minimum of N1 trillion as its capital base.
“If the government could set up and operate a Bank of Industry (BoI) there’s no reason why it should not consider a Pharmaceutical Bank with perceivable value chains capable of transforming the fortunes of this economy.
“With such initiative, Nigeria can soon become a major exporter of pharmaceutical products at least to neighbouring African countries. This is one area the government should consider for its diversification of the economy.”
Onyejemuo seeks palliatives
Onyejemuo asked the government to provide palliatives for importers of ethical drugs.
“You don’t just take such medicine or any other medicine for enjoyment sake, rather it is for life saving.
“In the drugs market, we have OTC (over the counter) and poison (ethicals). Ethicals are poison and strictly administered by professionals in registered pharmaceutical premises or institutions.
“This class of drugs is not imported freely. Now, with the prevailing foreign exchange rate, it will be difficult for anybody to import this class of drugs and sell them because the prices have hit the roof.
“And unless the government comes up with palliatives, no businessman will risk his hard earned income to import at such high cost.”
Solution proffered by Okwor
Okwor, who is also the managing director of Cosmos Pharmacy, said one way to provide help is by ensuring the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) works.
“Unfortunately, there is no health insurance scheme. The country has been talking about a national health insurance scheme for more than a decade.
“Long after so much talk, we haven’t arrived at a situation where people can access their medicine at reasonable cost with ease.”
He said those who hold the system to ransom have vowed that the NHIS must not work.
But he urged well meaning Nigerians to ensure those who live under safety nets do not die for a lack of medication.
Why selling some drugs is risky
The question is how can consumers afford drugs considering the high cost of imports?
Pharmacists cannot keep some drugs beyond expiry dates and the products waste away in warehouses.
Some medicines have two or three years’ shelf life; but some, like multivitamins, expire in less than two years.
An importer brings in the products but customers do not buy; the drugs expire and the importer loses.
“There are drugs worth over N30 million within our domain which have already expired. Our members are waiting for NAFDAC to come and evacuate them for destruction,” Ugbojiaku disclosed.
He explained that many drug categories are involved; not only life-saving ones but also antibiotics, analgesics, multivitamins, and other routine drugs.
“The drugs expired in our hands not because people don’t want to buy but because the economic lull affects everybody.
“Importers bear the losses, not manufacturers. When you import one or two containers of drugs, and customers have no money to buy; before you realise your money, the drugs may expire and you have to throw them away.
“Unfortunately, the government is not making things easy for people. There are many hospitals without drugs and here we are talking about throwing away large quantities of expired drugs.
“The government used to buy and equip hospitals with drugs, but now the hospitals are left to sustain their operations if they must remain in business.
“With proper arrangement, the government can buy up all the drugs and distribute them to hospitals before the drugs expire.
“Who knows how many lives that could have been saved if these drugs were distributed to dying patients who had no money to buy drugs they needed.
“We cannot on our own import drugs worth millions of naira and dump them in hospitals entirely for free. Even if you try, hospital authorities may mistake your gesture and suspect the drugs to be unwholesome for consumption.
“The hospitals will even prefer to be given allocation for all their pharmaceutical needs themselves.”