Remove Tariffs on Anti-Diabetes Drugs, Others, Fed Govt Urged
The Federal Government has been urged to remove tariffs on imported anti-diabetes drugs and devices to make them affordable.
Experts gave the advice at the capacity building workshop for reporters organised by a multinational pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals, as part of activities marking the World Diabetes Day.
A major highlight of the workshop was the revelation that many sufferers of the disease could not control their blood sugar as the cost of drugs and monitoring devices have become too expensive and unreachable.
A Senior Lecturer/Consultant Endocrinologist at the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine/University of Lagos, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr Ifedayo Odeniyi, said diabetes is on the increase worldwide, especially in developing countries.
He disclosed that over in 100,000 deaths were caused by the disease in the country in 2013, adding that the disease affects about 5.5 per cent of the population and could rise to 6.1 percent, if urgent steps were not taken to curtail its spread.
According to the medic, Nigeria has the third highest incidence of diabetes in Africa, after South Africa with 9.7 percent and Tanzania 7.8 percent.
He regretted that many people do not know they have the disease because its symptoms occur when it has progressed to an advanced stage.
He however said while the disease has no cure, people with diabetes could live to a ripe old age and enjoy a good quality of life, if they strive to control the disease.
Diabetes control, he said, involved good diet, exercise, use of drugs and compliance with the doctor’s instructions. He advised those with the disease to work with the health care givers in managing their condition.
The goal of diabetes management, Odeniyi said, is to prevent complications which, when they occur, could be deadly or very expensive to manage.
“Poorly managed diabetes leads to serious complications and early death,” he said.
Such complications, he said, include blindness, kidney failure, heart diseases, infections, skin diseases, among several others.
Head, External Affairs Sanofi Nigeria-Ghana, Mr. Oladimeji Agbolade, urged the participants to be relentless in their enlightenment efforts about diabetes, adding that the disease is fast becoming an epidemic worldwide.
He urged the Federal Government to implement the proposed policy aimed at ensuring that every patient who reports in the hospital has their blood glucose measured just as it is done with blood pressure to ensure early detection of the disease.
By: Oyeyemi Gbenga-Mustapha
The Nation News
