Stakeholders in the health sector have urged President Bola Tinubu to address the lingering health issues in the country.

The stakeholders, who made the call in separate interviews, said the new president should be more sensitive to the health and well-being of Nigerians.

The national president of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Adewale Oladigbolu, urged the new government to prioritise local pharmaceutical drug manufacturers.

Mr Oladigbolu said such incentives would help scale up the percentage of drugs produced in the country, which currently stands below 30 per cent.

“The government needs to prioritise incentives for drug manufacturers locally because drugs manufactured locally will generate lots of revenue, provide jobs and develop the sector,” Mr Oladigbolu explained.

He noted that the incentives could be in the form of low-interest loans, setting up industrial parks in the six geo-political zones and a stable power supply.

“This will increase the percentage of locally made drugs from below 30 per cent to 75 per cent target,” he said.

Basden Onuwubere, chairman of the Nigerian Heart Foundation’s hypertension committee, said the new government should be more sensitive to the health and well-being of Nigerians.

Mr Onuwubere said the health insurance policy in the country should be effective to ensure more access to good and quality healthcare.

“Over the years, Nigerian governments in the past have been insensitive to health and education, a country where the allocation for health is less than five per cent of the budget is very bad,” Mr Onuwubere stated. “We hope the new government will be more sensitive and do more on health insurance.”

He added that the previous governments “tried in the area of health insurance, but this government should make it more effective.” 

(NAN)