In Sokoto, prescribed drugs now free for the poor

Are you ill, on hospital admission and without the means to pay for prescribed drugs in public health facilities in Sokoto state?

Succour has come the way of many: the state government has set aside a special fund lodged at hospitals and other selected health facilities to settle the bills for the drugs free of charge.

Expended under the auspices of the State Zakat and Endowment Committee, the sum of N50 million has so been allocated to the intervention programme since January, amounting to N10 million monthly.

While N8 million from the amount is expended on “normal” hospitals and pharmacies, N2 million is set aside specifically for patients at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Kware, for the benefit of patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric issues.

“We discovered that requirements for some patients are so minimal, yet they can’t afford to pay. A case we had was that of an Almajiri boy hit by a motorcycle rider (Okada) and he needed just N200 for treatment at a pharmacy by the road side, yet both he and the Okada rider couldn’t afford it,” chairman of the Zakat Committee, Lawal Maidoki, said.

“We decided to implement the pilot scheme where indigent members of the public can get attended to by removing the burden of payment for drugs from their budgets.”

Information indicates that from January to May alone, approximately 20,000 people have benefitted, an average of 4,000 per month.

“We intend to increase the number as funds become available. Our joy is that the populace have embraced the intervention and requests for it has tripled in the last one month,” he said.

Checks have been put on ground to ensure it is not abused: trusted officials are assigned to those centres to co-ordinate the payments and supervise disbursement of funds.

To vet prescriptions offered by hospitals, male and female health professionals are assigned to centres to vet the prescriptions and forward their recommendations to the appropriate centres for the release of the drugs.

Names of persons, type of drug and cost will now be recorded as drugs are released. Periodically, independent officials are sent out to assess work done and report back to the committee which in turn reports back to government.

According to details, 40 health centres provide the services in the 23 local government areas of Sokoto sState. However, more than one facility is selected in LGAs with high urban concentration.

For instance, in the Sokoto north, Sokoto south and Wamakko LGAs which form Sokoto metropolis, apart from Usman Danfodio University Teaching Hospital and the State Specialist Hospital, other centres offering the services include Women and Children Hospital, Imam Hospital and the State Orthopedic Hospital.

Pharmacies rendering the services include Zumunci Pharmacy, Binji Pharmacy, Raudah Pharmacy among others. These are among the biggest and the best pharmacies in Sokoto and environs.

Incidentally, in order to encourage the program, some of the private health facilities have now introduced discount on all drugs purchased for this purpose.

As for psychriatric patients in Kwari, expenditure framework for the funds has been widened to include provision of cloths and support services for inmates once they are discharged.