Reps Probe N48bn Debt Owed Pharmaceutical Firms, Demand Free Cancer Treatment

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Health institutions to investigate the collapse of the Drugs Revolving Funds scheme which resulted into the federal health institutions owing Pharmaceutical companies the cumulative sum of N48 billion.

The move followed the adoption of a motion jointly sponsored by Hon. Adedayo Samuel Adesola (APC, Lagos), Hon. Amos Magaji Gwamna (PDP, Kaduna) and Hon. Regina Akume (APC, Benue) at plenary on Wednesday.

Moving the motion, Adesola noted that the Drugs Revolving Funds scheme was initially successful, but has been mutilated by hospital management, resulting in pharmaceutical firms being owed “N18 billion in 2021 and N30 billion in 2023.”

Adesola said the existence of the Fund is a National Contingency Plan designed to tackle the menace of the out-of-stock syndromes in public pharmacy department, and ensure that Federal Health Institutions are adequately stocked with essential drugs for medically challenged Nigerians.

The lawmaker expressed worry that the “laudable initiative has been abused over a period of time through the accumulation of unpaid supplies from pharmaceutical firms under this funding arrangement, culminating in its eventual collapse.”

He noted that the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the past administration to probe the activities of the National Hospital, Igbobi to resuscitate the scheme.

“Unless the collapse of the drug revolving fund is addressed, as a matter of urgency, further supplies of these essential drugs to Federal Health Institutions will remain a pipedream, thereby increasing pressure on the already struggling healthcare system,” Adesola said.

Equally, the House, following the adoption of a motion brought under matters of urgent national importance moved by Hon. Badau Yusuf from Kano State at plenary, called for the urgent need for free cancer treatment in Nigeria.

Yusuf in leading the debate, described the increasing number of cancer patients in Nigeria as alarming, hence the need for government to intervene in its treatment.

He pointed out that the majority of patients are low-income earners who need government intervention for treatment, urging for an enabling legal framework for free treatment of the vulnerable.

Yusuf also called on the House Committee on Health Services to mandate Teaching Hospitals to facilitate the treatment and further urged the Ministry of Finance to ensure funding for such treatments.