Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has raised alarm that many Nigerians are dying silently because of their precarious economic situations that has inevitably made it impossible for them to buy essential medication to manage their life threatening health challenges.

HURIWA said the right to affordable and quality healthcare is a fundamental human right and any nation that is unable to meet this threshold is a failed state just as the Rights group said it is cruel, dehumanising, wicked and absolutely unacceptable that government officials who are chauffeur driven in exotic special utility vehicles and fueled from public funds, are looking the other way whilst millions of Nigerians suffer from the economic paralysis of being unable to even buy prescribed medicines essential for their continuous survival.

“We are of the position that at no other time in the history of Nigeria as a sovereignty, has it become practically impossible for millions of indigent citizens living with one health condition or the other that can medically be managed by adherence to a regime of medication at the expert recommendation of medical doctors, who can no longer afford these life saving medicines and most people with such situations are now in-between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

HURIWA blames the poor framing and implementation of critical economic policies such as the sudden withdrawal of subsidy on petrol and the flouting of the value of Naira vis-à-vis that of other foreign monetary notes such as the United States’ dollars, have combined to shoot up the asking prices of essential medication even as the simultaneous and sudden closure of reputable global pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria and the concomitant scarcity of foreign exchange for local pharmaceutical companies to import medications has combined to make the costs of behind the counter pharmaceutical products way out of the capacity of most absolutely poor Nigerians who are living with health conditions that may kill them if they stop taking the prescriptions as made by their family doctors just as asthmatic conditions have become pervasive and many are already dying because they can not now afford the exorbitant costs of inhalers.

HURIWA is therefore reminding the government of President Tinubu that the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.

HURIWA which recalled that almost 70 years after these words were adopted in the Constitution of the World Health Organization, they are more powerful and relevant than ever, just as since day one, the right to health has been central to WHO’s identity and mandate. It is at the heart of my top priority: universal health coverage.

The right to health for all people means that everyone should have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without suffering financial.

Quoting copiously from the citations of the expert position of the WHO, HURIWA endorsed these logical position as a constitutional obligations of government of Nigeria thus: “No one should get sick and die just because they are poor, or because they cannot access the health services they need.

“Good health is also clearly determined by other basic human rights including access to safe drinking water and sanitation, nutritious foods, adequate housing, education and safe working conditions.

“The right to health also means that everyone should be entitled to control their own health and body, including having access to sexual and reproductive information and services, free from violence and discrimination.

“Everyone has the right to privacy and to be treated with respect and dignity. Nobody should be subjected to medical experimentation, forced medical examination, or given treatment without informed consent.

“That’s why WHO promotes the idea of people-centred care; it is the embodiment of human rights in the practice of care.

“When people are marginalized or face stigma or discrimination, their physical and mental health suffers. Discrimination in health care is unacceptable and is a major barrier to development.

“But when people are given the opportunity to be active participants in their own care, instead of passive recipients, their human rights are respected, the outcomes are better and health systems become more efficient.

“We have a long way to go until everyone – no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have – has access to these basic human rights.

“The central principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to ensure that no one is left behind.

“I call on all countries to respect and protect human rights in health – in their laws, their health policies and programmes. We must all work together to combat inequalities and discriminatory practices so that everyone can enjoy the benefits of good health, no matter their age, sex, race, religion, health status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or migration status.”

The rights group pointed out that it is true as has been opined by many opinion moulders that the scarcity or limited availability of foreign exchange exacerbates as ripple effect, forcing manufacturers to compensate by increasing the prices of medicines to cover their higher operational costs”,

“The fundamental truth also is that the failure of the Federal government and the sub-national entities to take immediate steps to control the prices of essential pharmaceutical products and the way the government at the centre, particularly the ministry of health has watched helplessly as the prices of medicines are going up, and people who are in need of most of the essential drugs might not be able to afford it and this might increase in death rate in the country. HURIWA’s attention is called to the threatening fact that Insulin, for instance, is now between N12000, and N14,000, and some of the patients might need two or three of it in a month. Also, ventolin inhalers for asthmatic patients rose from N2000 to N9,000, and if a patient is earning N30,000 per month which is the minimum wage in the country, how will he or she cope?”

HURIWA is therefore appealing to President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of a national emergency on medication and the high costs of pharmaceutical products and then implement measures to lift certain restrictions and tariffs on imported life saving pharmaceutical products into Nigeria just as the state governments need to introduce health subsidy to benefit their indigent citizens to stave off the silent epidemic of sudden deaths in the country no thanks to the exorbitant costs of pharmaceutical products that are life saving.”

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