FMC Bida partners 18 coys to reduce costs of drugs

The Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida, Niger, has entered into a partnership with 18 multinational drug companies for the direct purchase of drugs.

Dr Abubakar Usman, the centre’s Medical Director, disclosed this in an interview with the newsmen in Bida on Friday.

According to him, the companies include world-class drugs firms like May and Baker that routinely supply drugs to the hospital at company prices.

“This development was necessitated by the ever increasing costs of drugs in the open market sequel to the low Naira to dollar ratio.

“Inflation has made the cost of some of the drugs to jerk off by about 300 per cent and this is taking huge negative tolls on the patients.

“So, this partnership is part of measures to alleviate the suffering of our clients and the community.

“We have put measures in place to enable our patients get their drugs at affordable rate, by this we don’t stress our clients because we know their purchasing power,

“We get our drugs directly from the companies that are reliable and affordable for our patients”, Dr Usman said.

“So, we pay tax, add the mark up rate of 20 per cent and get the drugs at much lower prices.”

Usman said that the partnership had boosted the monthly drugs sales from N2 million to between N14million to N16million.

He said drug sales per month was N2 million when he assumed office, but when the partnership was introduced, it increased to between N14 to N16 million monthly because of high patronage by patients.

The managing director said the partnership had enabled the hospital to get genuine drugs, while it has also drastically reduced the out-of-stock syndrome.

Usman, however, lamented that the high inflation rate has made the cost of some drugs to skyrocket from N3, 500 to between N13, 000 to N14,000.

He added that the same horrible situation has made the costs of reagents and other equipment to increase astronomically.

Uman said that the centre has also identified three wholesalers that supply drugs directly to it at much reduced prices.