When bad times come, they are like an epidemic. The poor feel the pangs in every aspect of their lives, including how they worship and how they heal. No wonder that Nigerians are generally anxious over the cost of one of the vital items that keep them alive: drugs.
From the retailer to the manufacturer to the buyer, complaints now attend the cost of drugs. It should not surprise, but it does worry us all the same.
According to the Consumer Price Index from the National Bureau of Statistics, the nation’s inflation topped 19 percent, the highest in 17 years.
Naturally, it affects vital aspects of our lives, especially food items. But close to food is drugs. Both are required for a healthy life. But according to a survey undertaken by the Vanguard newspaper, the prices of drugs have leapt from between 30 percent and 500 percent in six months. And no essential category of medication is immune.
For instance, the prices of antibiotics, anti-hypertensives, anti-histamines have risen from 30 percent to 85 percent. Syringes have jumped from 50 percent to 100 percent. Infusions that cost N120 now go for as high as N700, a 500 percent hike. Analgesics like Paracetamol that went for N50 per sachet can only leave the stalls at N100. The inflation scourge touches drugs for orphans, cancer, pregnant women and chronic illnesses.
The rise in the value of dollar to the Naira is a major factor. The Naira now goes for as high as N680 in the parallel market, and its consequences for the cost of drugs are inevitable. This may be the case for imported drugs, and that sector dominates the market. But even for local manufacturers, it is not a relief. They obtain about 80 percent of their active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, from abroad, and they are also under the spell of foreign exchange pressures.
The bad news did not start in the past few months, but they have become even more desperate.
For companies that depend on imports, and this is nearly all of them, their capacity to forge ahead is sharply undermined. This may lead to shutdowns. Apart from making drugs more inaccessible to the people, it will add to the now ominous crowd of the jobless.
When the mass of the people can no longer afford genuine drugs, they will go for the cheap. They will become victims of the quacks in our midst who make fake drugs. The buyers are often illiterates who cannot discern where to obtain good medications. Again, the quacks often profit from the poor because the outlets for such fake products abound in poor neighbourhoods.
This will endanger their health even more, and lead to new ailments. Already, some fellow citizens who take regular drugs like anti-diabetics and anti-hypertensives no longer take the medications, and this will lead to new complications and, where no rescue comes, fatalities.
Other than patronise faked western drugs, citizens will resort to trado-medical options. This is not bad in itself but it throws up its own peculiar challenges. Apart from the many quacks among them, that sector has not enjoyed much regularisation or standards. It is a great potential for medical breakthrough but we have not made enough strides to turn it into a national asset for our physical wellness.
When such citizens do not go there, they turn to churches and other forms of worship centres who propagate divine healing. We cannot verify any of the claims but they have a strong hold in the people’s consciousness. Faith is a potent pull for the sick and vulnerable.
This is what the economic times can inflict on the people. While urging the government to tackle the poor state of prices, we call on regulatory agencies, including the National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) to tighten any loose end in confronting fake drugs.