Health
The pharmaceutical giant, May & Baker Nigeria Plc., has identified hypertension treatment as a ‘lifetime medication’, calling for Federal Government’s interventions to reduce cost of its drugs to enhance access.
May & Baker Chief Executive Officer, Mr Patrick Ajah, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
He spoke on the sideline of a health walk organised by the company in commemoration of 2026 World Hypertension Day with the theme: “Controlling Hypertension Together”.
NAN reports that World Hypertension Day is celebrated annually on May 17, to raise global awareness about the dangers of high blood pressure, often termed the “silent killer”.
Ajah, who lamented the high costs drugs, emphasised the need for consistency in taking Blood Pressure medications, explaining that antihypertensive drugs were lifetime medication.
He said most of the initial products for managing hypertension were manufactured by multinational companies hence their prices were high, stressing that many people could not afford those drugs now.
Ajah, also a Pharmacist, frowned at situations where hypertensive patients stopped taking the medication once they noticed improvement in their health condition, saying that people should understand that anti-hypertensive drug was a lifetime medication.
“Hypertension is not like malaria that a patient may take the medication and stop taking once he/she feels relieved.
“If an individual is diagnosed to be hypertensive, the patient remains on medication for life.
“The fact that hypertensive patients should be on antihypertensive drugs for life, a lot of people can no longer afford them giving the economic condition,” he said.
Ajah, therefore, urged the Federal Government to support local manufacturers with interventions and incentives to enable them produce the products at prices that would be affordable by Nigerians.
Shedding more light on the need to encourage local manufacturers, Ajah said that a patient could save 30 to 40 per cent of the price buying brands made by local manufacturer compared with the product brands produced by multinational companies.
The pharmacist identified cost/access to raw materials, clearance duties, loan facilities and power supply as major challenges of local manufacturers.
He, however, admitted that the Federal Government had done something to address the issue of raw materials by granting duty-free imports of raw materials to the local manufacturers, which he said, had saved about 10 to 15 per cent of the cost of production.
“The Federal Government has actually done something as part of the engagements that we made with them, which the president himself signed the Executive Order for raw materials to be imported duty-free.
“So, the raw materials that local manufacturers need are now imported duty-free. That’s some help, though a lot of clearance levies are still involved.
“The Bank of Industry has also done a lot in helping local manufacturers with loan facilities that are less than the commercial interest rate. That’s a lot of help too.
“But, we still think that there are so much more the government can do – in terms of assisting these companies with loans.
“It’s important that local manufacturers are encouraged to produce most of these medicines, especially things like hypertension and diabetes drugs,” he said.
According to him, diabetic patients are at higher risk of developing hypertension, saying that most of those that are coming down with sudden deaths are those that have diabetes and high blood pressure at the same time.
He noted that such people needed frequency management from doctors as their situations could be more debilitating.
“Somebody can be hypertensive, but when it’s complicated with diabetes, it kills faster.
“With the condition of the country, there are circumstances that increase the tendency for hypertension; the major one is ‘stress’.
“Stress-related ailments caused by high blood pressure causative factors, such as stroke, diabetes, often show little or no signs which are usually ignored until they become complicated.
“Hence, the need for Nigerians to learn how to prevent and manage stress, to ensure their wellbeing,” he said.
The pharmacist underscored the need for more intensified efforts by the government to adequately improve the welfare of the Nigerian doctors in order to encourage and retain them in the country.(NAN)
F.O
Tags: Cost of Drugs hypertension