 Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa and it's time for our next hot topic And this one we're talking about how Nigerians have turned to traditional healers as Prizes of drugs go up and we have our guest here. Nick at Nick Aguile. He's a public affairs analyst I'm just here to dive into this topic. Good morning. Nick. Thank you for joining us Yeah, good morning. Good morning to our viewers. Good morning. Thank you so much Thank you for for being here. Okay, so we're talking about prices of drugs being Ridiculously expensive and I know, you know, it's it's in peri pursuit with the whole dollar rate and dollars gone up So drugs has also gone up, but people are now moving into traditional healers because of this. What is your thoughts and we'll just go right in Thank you very much for that question. Yeah We cannot blame the people who are seeking alternative Solutions to their health care needs way from orthodox Because of the current situation in the country We know that people's incomes are largely remain the same whereas the cost of living as escalated Especially coming from the increase in the cost of petrol which is impacting on the cost of Transportation and then the cost of goods in the market because those goals are transported to the market and Also the foreign exchange reforms adopted by this government because we are not Manufacturing most of the Orthodox medicines that we consume in Nigeria. We are having to import a huge chunk of the medicines that come into Nigeria and this has been impacted by the cost of imports because The same medicines are the same cost One dollar was four hundred Something we now cost much higher with dollar now being a thousand five hundred error. So this is The reason that we now find so much Inflation in the market and this is this is pushing people to seek alternative medical Medicine for their medical conditions and You can't blame them because if you cannot afford Autodox medicine, what would you do? Will you just sit down and die or you just have to find a way and see if you Got to go to get a cure. So this is a background to what is happening in the country right now. Yeah Okay, so I know I know that I mean people go for This traditional healers right now because of the prices of the orthodox medicine or the The drugs that you get from all these pharmaceuticals, but how effective at this traditional medicine? I want to believe that people would tell you. Oh, you know what even all of these pharmaceuticals They're getting them from the herbs that this Traditional healers use but my my my worry now is most of them are not NAFTA approved So what are you putting in your body? Are you just going to take something because you're saying I cannot afford this other one are there are there like Ways to ensure that you are careful with what you're even ingesting into your body Yeah, so That's a very good point that you are raised What is the efficacy of this medicines? Yes Sometimes you you even find out find out that Because these medicines are not regulated You even cut back dosage. Don't see how it dosage because there is a particular quantity of these substances that you take That instead of day being helpful to you They rather become harmful because you're taking too much of it and your internal organs like Your liver your kidney can no longer possess so much quantity of it That is why in the orthodox medicine and drugs are given with specific dosage Yeah, some of they would you have in a five milligram ten milligram So just say it is 10 milligram and you need five milligram into break it into into two and things like that You often don't find us with the authority medicine So there are risks involved, but when people are pushed to the wall and like I said, I mean if you fall ill and You cannot afford orthodox medicine What what are your choices? Your choices are either you just stay where you are and Eventually die of your illness or you will seek any help available anywhere And that is where government needs to come in Now that government knows That a lot of Nigerians are patronizing this alternative medicine Our traditional medicine as well. We call it government needs to step into that space and try to see if they can control that sector Regulate it and ensure that there are no sharp practices and that the medicines that have been sold to Nigerians and Are going to actually cure their illnesses instead of making their conditions worse So it's a big area for government to step in and do Some work. Okay, so I mean from what you said government needs to step in to make sure that they really Regulate them make sure that there's efficacy to this but now Is is there anything any initiative that the government is doing to even ensure the affidability of health care in Nigeria? Because I don't think anyone wants to just go to a traditional Healer I think most people would rather just have the you know the the counter drugs where you just know that okay This is my dosage is what I'm having and you know in a few days You're sure because most times right why I think people might not really want to go to traditional healers is because a lot Of research have been done with these other drugs like you're getting from the pharmaceutical There's been research. There's been testing. So you there's there's that form of Trust with the with the with the medicine right compared to traditional healers that you don't even know how this was formulated by someone So now my question is is the government even doing anything to ensure that people can actually afford health care in Nigeria We're talking about the affordability of the health care because that's the reason that is pushing people to these traditional healers What do you think? my question so if you look at it globally There are two Areas that governments even in the pure capitalist economies hardly live entirely in the hands of businesses And those two areas are education and health care So if you go to the UK for instance, even though it's a free market economy is capital is You see how the NHS government is the one providing education Yeah, the government is the one providing education and it's free of charge Free of charge education from when the child is three years until when the child is 18 And after 18 the child is either going to university or going into some vocational and technical skill training So it's at the university that the child will have to pay and the same thing for health care The government of the UK is providing total comprehensive healthcare free of charge to all the citizens You know and you know that includes everything so when you go Through the health care system in the UK You are not expected to bring out your money and pay for anything and that is right from primary health care You know a lot of people confuse primary health care to be a ruler health care No primary health care starts with you going to see your family doctor even if you're in the city or in the village Yeah, you see your family doctor and your family doctor will examine you and If the family doctor believes that your condition is what they can treat they will treat you And and give you the drugs if your family doctor believes that your condition is hospital care Then they are the ones who will refer you to the hospital So in the UK don't just walk into a hospital You you have to be referred to the hospital by your family doctor who is called a GP general practitioner Yeah, so then you go to hospital in the hospital they carry out tests for you You know if it's a surgery they perform surgeries They do all sorts of things for you and if the hospital now thinks that your condition Require specialist care Say for instance the hospital eventually now discovers that you have cancer the hospital We then will now refer you to a cancer hospital You know and that cancer hospital is a tertiary health care So you start from primary health care your GP secondary health care the hospital tertiary health care a special hospital Where if you go to a cancer hospital right from the gate to the top most in that hospital It's only cancer they think about it's only cancer the research only cancer they treat You know and all that is for free in an economy like the UK where they are high Employment levels high income levels, you know how the tracing levels and all of that yet to go Mint is coming in basically subsidizing head care and the Nigerian constitution provides that Nigeria citizens are guaranteed head care is one of the duties of government You know when they say the duties of government is welfare and security in that welfare is head care Nigeria's are expected to enjoy Comprehensive head care either totally free or at very subsidized rates and you know in Nigeria In the days that some people like me was growing up in the 70s We enjoyed total and free comprehensive in Nigeria then you go to a point where If you go to hospital At least they will call you do consultation they would do tests for you and all of that they come out in diagnosis and they were no drugs in the Again in the hospital so they will write a prescription for you to go and buy your drugs that is why Janani Abacha in his cool speech when they were overthrowing and He said that our hospitals have not become may consulting clinics But today as we speak today, you cannot even get free consultation in any government hospital Without federal state what check it out if you go to a government owned hospital today You are expected to pay money and this money is that you are expected to pay or not tokens You know, I have someone that we took to further medical center in kefir to treat her of She had a kidney kidney problem They were charging bills that were running into the millions of Naira. You won't believe this a government hospital That is being funded by government money, which is basically our money So there is almost a near total collapse of public health care in Nigeria The government hospitals that are available now either some of them have been commercialized or they are just taking this kind of big Monies, and you are not even sure if those monies that they are taking are going into Government post so there is a need for this government at the federal state and local to actually Declare a state of emergency in the headcare center And and and let the government The leaders also by the constitution to protect Abide and work by the constitution look into the constitution where nigeria citizens have been guaranteed head care So that they cannot provide a care for nigeria's a lot of money needs to be put into that sector But you see in nigeria today instead of putting money in the essential services like education or Head care, which are the social services We're putting a lot of money into into defense and security So instead of buying drugs and books for schools we're buying bullets and guns And ammo tanks and and and fighter jets to kill nigeria citizens who are Engaging in budgetary and all sorts of things. So I think Government needs to realign its priorities because a lot of nigerians are going through a lot of problems So if you had to advise the government on how to go about this prices of drugs quickly because we have to wrap it up now If you were just to give about two or three advice on how to ensure that the prices of drugs You know just come down a litre for people to be able to afford it. What was the advice that you would give Okay, so like uh, I can give it the uk mother about drugs. Okay In the uk They run something like an insurance system for drugs So they have a drug funds. They have a drug fund And uh, anybody who is prescribed a medicine And that person is working and paying taxes Then that person can access any drug in that drug bank Pay the same amount of money so Even if you are Getting a prescription that let me say in agiria money is worth a two thousand and that drug fund You are expected to pay Five thousand you pay five thousand even if you are taking a prescription that is worth 50,000. You are paying five thousand So whatever you're paying is coming into that drug fund the government is using that drug fund To nam buy drugs. So it's like an insurance policy You know in insurance Where all of us pay the same premium But some people make claims, you know what others don't You know, so that is the kind of thing The government can think about that by by setting up a drugs fund where You know government hospitals with dispensed drugs at a fixed rate You know, so those whose drugs are not as expensive are contributing to help those whose drugs are expensive So at any of the day everybody has access to drugs, you know And you know those who are either unemployed or they are now old or are suffering specific Amat and all of that they access that drug for free Also, what that means is that other citizens who are paying for drugs are actually contributing that These citizens who are who are not as Well of can also have drugs and that's why they're taking their drugs for free And that is something specific that nigeria government can look at but apart from that I think there has to be a A very deliberate and intentional action By by governments at all levels and you know, we mostly focus on the federal government forgetting that The state governments are also taking a lot of money just as the local government I mean if you look at the federal allocation committee, you discover that The monies that both the state governments and local governments are taking combined is more than the money that the federal government is taking So this subnational government, we need to have a lot of focus on the what are they doing with their monies? you know, like since This government came into being the federal allocation Accounts on allocation committee fact has been Disbosing over a trillion each time And these monies are going to say what are they doing with these monies government need to understand that If the citizenry is not having Their productivity is going to be low and what productivity is low? Everybody suffers Because that is where you see that there will be no much of economic progress and You know citizens are old This is a duty that those who are in leadership position all the citizens To provide them a comprehensive aid care So I think that there has to be a state of emergency declared in this sector A lot of money needs to come in hospitals needs to be Doctors need to be recruited paid well nurses You know pharmacies all the head care workers need to be you have a lot of them recruit them pay them well You know like in the uk like I said national health service, which is the head care system of the uk they pay the poor very well They are one of The best paying organizations in the uk employ millions and millions of people Okay, and those are the kind of models that I respect Nigeria to copy Thank you. Well, hopefully We we copy those models and you know our health care system becomes better because I mean, I don't think anybody just wants to go and start to take traditional herbs herbs are good fine But you want to you know take something that is tried tested and trusted But um anyways want to say thank you. Thank you for coming and thank you for just bringing in more insights into this topic Thank you so much Thank you so much too and Happy day to address Thank you. You too. All right. We've been speaking with nick Agulay. He's a public affairs analyst And we're talking about why Nigerians have turned to traditional healers as the prizes of drugs go up This is where we have to drop draw the curtain here on the breakfast It's been a wonderful day, you know Just having all of these topics and reviewing the papers as well. We'll see you again tomorrow Bye for now. My name is Rumeh Holson You