National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 12 pharmaceutical companies and eight Drug Management Organisations (DMOs) for branding of their medicines and other health products in the country.
The director-general of NHIA, Prof Mohammed Nasir Sambo, who spoke at the MoU signing ceremony in Abuja, said the 12 pharmaceutical companies are expected to brand 33 products for the health insurance ecosystem in the first phase.
He said with the signing of the MoU, the products are expected in the next one month, adding that the initiative is geared towards the strengthening of local pharmaceutical manufacturers, which will ultimately guarantee medicine security.
“The NHIA will today be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the pharmaceutical companies and DMOs. With this activity we expect the production of these products at least in the next one month,” he explained.
The initiative, according to Sambo, is aimed at proffering solutions that would ensure eradication of out-of-stock syndrome and reduce the cost of medicines by 50 percent of current market price.
He said, “The initiative of branding NHIA medicines and other health products is to facilitate the supply of affordable, acceptable, accessible, available and quality medicines and other health products. The initiative is to enhance the production of high-quality medicines that will inspire the confidence of users.”
He said the authority has chosen seven states (Delta, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Niger, Osun and Sokoto states) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the pilot phase of implementation of the initiative.
The DG explained that “In order to bring this initiative to fruition, on August 18th 2020, I inaugurated the medicines supply implementation Committee. The Committee had its inaugural meeting on 24th of September, 2020. A total of 44 submissions were received from pharmaceutical companies and DMOs. The submissions were scrutinised and synthesised by the selection committee and 20 companies and 8 DMOs were selected to provide services for the initiative.
“Negotiations were held with the selected pharmaceutical companies and DMOs. After the negotiations, agreement was reached with 12 pharmaceutical companies and eight DMOs.
