Peter Okoye, PBA Journalism MenteeThe Nassarawa State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Medsaf, an end-to-end pharmaceutical platform, for the distribution of quality medications in the state.
The event, which took place at a breakfast meeting organised by the Africa Resource Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (ARC_ESM), was attended by key stakeholders from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), seven states commissioners for health, supply chain experts, as well as industry experts, who brainstormed on the various levels of partnership needed to achieve Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria.
Among the dignitaries that graced the high-powered meeting were Commissioner for Health, Niger State, Dr Makusidi Muhammad; Commissioner for Health, Kaduna State, Dr Amina Mohammed Baloni; Commissioner for Health, Yobe State, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana; Commissioner for Health, Nasarawa State, Pharm. Ahmed Baba Yahaya; Commissioner for Health, Sokoto State, Dr Muhammad Ali Inname; Commissioner for Health, Ekiti State and Chairperson, Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum, Dr Oyebanji Filani; Commissioner for Health, Gombe State, Dr Habu Dahiru; Acting Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Monica Eimunjeze; CEO/MD, Fidson Healthcare Plc and Chairman PMG-MAN, Dr Fidelis Ayebae and Founder/CEO, Medsaf, Vivian Nwakah.
Commissioner for Health, Nasarawa State, Pharm. Yahaya described the partnership as a marriage that will be sustainable for many years to come. He assured Medsaf that the state government will provide the company with an available database and support to guarantee the success of the agreement.
“We have our gap needs, and we see that Medsaf has quite several coverages that will close the gaps. The more satisfactory our demands are met, the better for the state. With Medsaf’s direction, we believe we have gotten to the near satisfactory point of our needs, as we look up to getting saturated in Nasarawa with consumables and drugs coverage, which will, in turn, bring optimal service delivery,” Yahaya said.
He also applauded the vision of the company to revolutionise the pharmaceutical supply chain in Nigeria.
He further stated that Nasarawa State is open to deploying technology to add value to what it presently has. “We need to employ ICT into every aspect of our healthcare system to monitor and ensure all our activities are tracked, to enable us to maximise the service delivery of healthcare in Nasarawa State,” he declared.
Founder/CEO of Medsaf, Vivian Nwakah, expressed deep appreciation for the recognition accorded to the company as the only pharmaceutical technology platform that is aggregating all pharmaceutical products from local manufacturers to ensure client satisfaction.
“Being here today not only affirms how Medsaf is perfectly aligned to be great for Nasarawa State, but we can scale this across to other states that might also need to digitalise their entire pharmaceutical supply chain” Nwakah explained.
According to her, the partnership with the Nasarawa State government has proven that everything Medsaf has done in the private sector can also support the public sector to improve capacity for providing better patient care at the statewide level.
“More importantly, we need to have the right financing partners to ensure that we can not only meet the credit needs of our various stakeholders but also that we have support to invest in the medications relevant to the country. I believe that all these things are possible, but we need a mindset change around how we use technology within our pharmaceutical procurement and that is key in other to reaching better patient outcomes,” she added.
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