February 20, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention in healthcare comes across as a critical juncture in the effort to fast-track Nigeria’s socio-economic advancement. Of the bank’s 37 intervention schemes, amounting to N4.2 trillion (both executed and outstanding), the healthcare intervention programme stands out. It serves the dual purpose of addressing the health and empowerment challenge, which the World Bank has repeatedly advised the Federal Government to tackle.
The healthcare intervention fund was created amid clamour for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to flood the market with foreign currencies and force the exchange rate down for the naira to be at par with the US dollar. But Mr Godwin Emefiele, has proven to see beyond the Utopian space. He targets policies with potential to launch Nigeria into the league of the world’s leading economies where production and health are ranked twin national priorities. The scheme is working and results are made.
The stitch that saved nine
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the CBN in May 2020 introduced the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS). It was aimed to help strengthen the public healthcare system with innovative financing of research and development (R&D) in new and improved drugs, vaccines and diagnostics of infectious diseases in Nigeria.
According to the scheme’s guideline, the HSRDIS is designed to trigger intense national R&D activities to develop a Nigerian vaccine, drugs and herbal medicines against the spread of COVID-19 and any other communicable or non-communicable diseases. The scheme would therefore facilitate the provision of grants to biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies.
Others are institutions, researchers, and research institutes for the research and development of drugs, herbal medicines and vaccines for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
The scheme is also intended to boost domestic manufacturing of critical drugs and vaccines to ensure their sustainable domestic supply and reduce the bulk manufacturing costs of the drugs, herbal medicines and vaccines in Nigeria.
The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, applauded the CBN healthcare intervention scheme.
“The funds represent a boost to the healthcare manufacturing sector which is fashioned to enhance the wellbeing of Nigerians, boost productivity and enhance employment through expansion of production lines,” Ohuabunwa said in November 2020, while speaking in a virtual lecture organized by the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), with the theme, ‘Nigeria manufacturing sector and CBN N100 billion Healthcare intervention fund, opportunities, challenges and post Covid-19 expectations’.
“The Emefiele-led CBN has looked beyond the quagmire of worsening exchange rate and moving to ban certain items to save the naira, while the environment remains challenging for manufacturing firms and those who engage in commodity export to boost non-oil revenue. Despite the obvious challenges, the healthcare intervention is highly commendable. It is a wonderful initiative of the bank under Emefiele”, said Dr Akin Ofolabi, a medical doctor.
At the last count, the intervention has financed 110 healthcare projects, of which 23 were pharmaceuticals, 77 hospitals and six other healthcare service projects, valued at N103.02 billion. It has also supported the acquisition and installation of over 45 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRIs) machines by hospitals; 36 Computed Tomography (CT) scanners; and expansion of production lines in various pharmaceutical companies across the country.
Similarly, the sum of N232.54 million was disbursed to 5 beneficiaries under the CBN Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention (Grant) Scheme (HSRDIS) for the development of testing kits and devices for COVID-19 and Lassa Fever. Recipients of these facilities have contributed meaningfully to the GDP.
Other policy measures also include mobilisation of key stakeholders in the Nigerian economy through the Coalition against COVID-19 (CACOVID), which led to the provision of over N28.0 billion in relief materials to affected households, and the set-up of 39 isolation centers across the country.
Stakeholders in the health sector confirmed that most local pharmaceutical industries, with the help of the fund, boosted their production capacities to manufacture facemasks, personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitisers, gloves, antiviral drugs, ventilators, medical supplies and vaccines.
Media reports quoted the Chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), Dr Fidelis Ayabae as confirming that every company that met the loan requirement received the facility.
“We are happy with the CBN for the initiative and the way it was implemented. Members that are yet to access it are working with the commercial banks with whom they have a relationship to close up documentation gaps before moving on to CBN. Overall it is a successful intervention. Some of the impacts can already be seen in the financial performance of the early recipients of the loans”, he was quoted as saying.
The President of, Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi was also quoted as describing the fund as commendable, noting that the CBN offered pharmaceutical companies and medical practitioners low-interest-rate loans up to N100 billion from March 2020 as an intervention to improve local manufacturing and increase their capacities to combat COVID 19 pandemic and other related health challenges.
Also, a Consultant Pharmacist and Medical Director, Merit Healthcare, Dr Olu Ojo, stated: “I know some big companies that got the money. Many companies have offers but funds were released late. Although there were challenges, the intervention fund has made a huge impact.”
Living Testimonials
A major fallout of the CBN healthcare intervention scheme is the role in reducing the scope of medical tourism which has become a huge source of foreign exchange leakage. For instance, the Marcelle Ruth Cancer Centre (MRCC) and Specialist Hospital in Lagos was largely funded through the healthcare scheme.
At the inauguration of the facility in May 2021, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who was special guest of honour, stated that MRCC “is the first-of-kind, world-class, multipurpose-built and one-stop centre for the comprehensive treatment of specific cancers namely: breast, gynaecological, prostate, colorectal, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which are the most common cancers in Nigeria.”
Part of the strategy for establishing the hospital in Nigeria, he observed, was to halt the fast-entrenching medical tourism among Nigerians, many of who travel overseas for the treatment of life-threatening ailments due to dearth of good facilities in the country, and incurring substantial financial and emotional costs. Averagely, 500 Nigerians are reported to travel abroad monthly to seek medical treatment while about $1.3 billion annually is lost in foreign exchange.”
The Duchess International Hospital in Ikeja Lagos, is another highbrow facility that benefited from the CBN healthcare intervention scheme.
At the commissioning of the hospital in October 2021, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, commended the Emefiele-led CBN intervention programme through which the hospital was funded.
“Today is one of those days that one is extra proud of being a Nigerian. It is one of those days when your belief is affirmed that this is a country of world-class talent, world-class ideas, and world-class execution of ideas,” he said.
Osinbajo stated that The Duchess International Hospital, by both medical and aesthetic standards, is comparable to the best hospitals in the world and that its proprietors should be proud of the facility.
Noting that the investment, which was facilitated by the CBN healthcare intervention scheme, would reverse medical tourism by delivering the highest standards of care, using the most advanced technology and treatments to provide the fastest, most convenient access to the best medical expertise available anywhere in the world.
“There is a good reason to do so. This hospital has serious bragging rights. It comes from the Reddington family, a clinical health brand that has earned a strong reputation for high standards in healthcare, top-notch international personnel including many highly reputed Nigerian doctors in diaspora, and best of all, it is all Nigerian.
“The opening of this state-of-the-art facility also celebrates some other facts. First, that we have all it takes to become the place of choice for even medical tourists from developed countries looking to jump long queues for specialized procedures at home or simply shopping for more affordable fees for first-class healthcare,”the Vice President said.
Noting further that Nigeria by far has the largest number of middle-to-low-income communities and individuals in sub-Saharan Africa who require affordable, high-quality healthcare, The Duchess could not have come at a better time.
“With investments like these, seeking high-quality medical personnel, we can even reverse the trend of doctors voting with their feet. The reasons for voting with their feet are obvious, better remuneration, better facilities. But again, only serious private sector investment in high-quality healthcare services offering top compensation for its personnel could possibly create an attractive proposition to reverse the trend. The only way we can ensure that people stay is to reward their services. I think this is a good way to start.
“So here at Duchess, we celebrate the convergence of so many possibilities and such great promise. I am extremely proud to be a part of this phenomenal achievement and the great future that it portends not just for healthcare services in Nigeria, but also for the general business environment. If you can believe enough in the economy, to invest in 15 different places, then certainly you must be doing something right and there must be something right about the economy also.”
The Emefiele Master Stroke
Writing on ‘Implications of Outbound Medical Tourism on Public Health Care Development in Nigeria’ in European Scientific Journal, 14(30), 353-370, 2018, Ibrahim Orekoya and Omobola Oduyoye, observed that outbound medical tourism is a phenomenon in Nigeria that contribute to the growth of the healthcare industry in destination countries.
They stated that medical tourism, which is the practice of patients travelling out of their country of origin or residence for the purpose of getting access to medical care services abroad is a common trend in Nigeria. They assert that huge investment in the health sector can drastically reduce outbound medical tourism, make health care services affordable to all Nigerians and utilizing foreign exchange to develop other relevant sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Nigeria loses over N576 billion yearly to medical tourism. According to a review of the Central Bank’s balance of payment, Nigerians spent the sum of $11.01 billion on health-related services abroad in 10 years, as at the first quarter of 2021, recording the highest in 2019 with $2.56 billion foreign health expenses, and the least in 2016 at $17 million.
It is important to emphasise this because of the huge capital flight involved which impacts on the nation’s foreign reserve and, eventually, the value of the local currency in the foreign exchange market.
Looking at the broad objectives, CBN Healthcare shows that the health sector is bound to register the intervention of the apex bank’s leadership in addressing the lingering challenge of medical tourism in Nigeria.
The objectives include:
•Supporting capacity of relevant health agencies towards attaining WHO Maturity Level 3, a prerequisite for manufacturing of vaccines in Nigeria;
•Facilitating partnership between academia (researchers, research institutes and universities) and industry into the research and development of drugs, phytomedicines and vaccines for the control, prevention and
treatment of infectious diseases in Nigeria; and
•Reducing dependence on imported drug products (synthetic and herbal) and vaccines for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Nigeria.
Activities eligible for consideration under the Scheme shall include:
Research and development of candidate drugs, herbal medicines and vaccines validated by relevant health authorities for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases;
Manufacturing of drugs, herbal medicines and vaccines validated by relevant health authorities for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
