FG takes steps to ease healthcare costs, expands access to medicines and insurance
The Federal Government has announced initiatives to address the rising cost of medicines and healthcare products, as part of efforts to improve access to quality healthcare for Nigerians.
Speaking during the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day commemoration in Abuja on Thursday, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, highlighted plans to procure essential medicines and promote local pharmaceutical production.
“In the medium and long term, the local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and commodities will help reduce costs and ensure availability within the country. This contributes to UHC’s goal of reducing the financial burden of health services,” Pate stated.
Pate announced that two million additional Nigerians had been enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the past year, bringing the total number of insured individuals to eight million.
“This is a modest yet significant addition of 2 million persons to the pool in less than a year. Since the scheme was launched in 2005, if we had 2 million lives enrolled every year, we would have had about 40 million Nigerians with health insurance coverage today,” Pate noted.
The minister disclosed that ₦45.9 billion had been disbursed through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to assist indigent and vulnerable Nigerians in accessing medical care without upfront payments. Additionally, state equity funds are being used to provide targeted support for the most vulnerable populations.
Prof. Pate also highlighted strides in women’s health, revealing that 879 obstetric fistula repairs had been completed across 19 centers nationwide as of October 2024, with a target of 2,500 repairs by year’s end.
“These efforts have restored the quality of life and dignity of many women,” he said.
The initiatives, part of the three-year Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain, aim to reduce out-of-pocket health expenditure and the economic burden of healthcare. Pate emphasized that these measures align with the administration’s broader goal of creating a more sustainable healthcare system and achieving Universal Health Coverage for all Nigerians.
