The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), has challenged Nigerians to patronize made in Nigeria medicines for more job opportunities.
The association noted that when locally made drugs are patronized, it will encourage them to produce it in larger quantities, thereby making it more affordable to poor masses..
Executive Secretary of the group, Mr Frank Mounemeh, while speaking to NHO in an interview regretted that Nigerians don’t believe in themselves or their capacities.
He said: “For us in the industry, the local pharma, we’ve been holding forth as patriots because we all know the challenges we face in Nigeria.
“If you are a manufacturer, you could have looked the other way to be an importer but we say no, because our vision has always been to close the gaps in the access to medicine and help the country attain medicine security.
“We are aware of the challenge of medicine inequity, Nigerians cannot access medicine or vaccine as it supposed to, but the only way you can close those gaps is when you build capacity and you start by believing in yourself.
He, however, appreciated those who have kept faith in the local manufacturers.
Mounemeh said: “It is only when people buy made in Nigerian medicine, that’s when we create jobs, that’s when we produce the pressure that we put on forest.
“That’s when we could continue to make medicine affordable and accessible to every Nigerian,” Mounemeh said.
He stated: “As we evolve, one thing that is key is that we’ve come to a point of self realization that we can do things on our own, over time, that has always been the challenge.”
.
