This week, under the Chairmanship of Provider-In-Chief, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the request of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, to bulk purchase Nigerian-made pharmaceuticals and locally-manufactured diagnostic test kits for direct, ward-by-ward distribution to all 774 LGAs of the country!
President Bola Tinubu’s landmark National Medical Relief Programme functions to encourage local manufacturing, job creation, and opportunity expansion across the health sector value chain while bringing financial relief and healing to millions of vulnerable Nigerians across local communities nationwide!
In the spirit of transparency, the breakdown of the People’s President’s approval is as follows:
₦997 million for third-line antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS patients who have developed resistance to first-line and second-line treatments.
₦2 billion for the procurement of locally manufactured diabetes diagnostic kits to improve early detection and monitoring of the disease.
₦4.5 billion for essential antibiotics, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic medications.
₦2.1 billion for the procurement of a mobile X-ray machine, rehabilitation of a computerized tomography (CT) scan, and installation of a 64-slice CT scanner at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi, which is a regional hub serving several other states.
The diabetes diagnostic kits, which will be procured using part of the ₦2 billion allocation, will be sourced from a *Lagos-based Nigerian company, making it one of the first in Africa to produce such medical equipment locally.
