Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, a lawmaker representing Kogi Central senatorial district has recommended the use of tertiary institutions for research centres by ministries in a bid to address the pitfalls in the healthcare industry.
She made the call on Monday during an interactive session by the Senate Committee on Health with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate.
In a press statement issued by Israel Arogbonlo, Chief Press Secretary to Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan stated that the proposed would enable the lecturers and students to generate money for Nigerian universities while developing indigenous solutions for health challenges as well as other sectors in need of further R and D.
She also urged the federal government to establish maternal and childcare facilities in the rural areas, adding that this would enable the health sector to address the dysfunctional gap between the urban women and their counterparts in the rural areas.
“Women in the rural areas are kind of more vulnerable than women in the urban areas,” she stated.
She lamented the exit of two pharmaceutical giants GSK and Sanofi-Aventi from Nigeria following the state of the nation urging the stakeholders concerned to devise strategies that will help mitigate the worrisome development.
Early last year when I was in the State, there was a wave that made news surrounding capsulated bitter leaf and it was all about the cleansing benefits and the enzymes it contains, and I said to myself, ‘is it the same bitter leaf we have all over Nigeria?’ God bless the company that decided to innovate it and turn it into a billion-dollar industry.
“So, that brings me to the idea of localising our medicine so we can take care of our local challenges at a reduced and more efficient cost, hence, we need to establish specialised research centres and tech hubs all across the country,” she said.
