Date: 2021-08-15

A pharmaceutical company in Nigeria, Biomedical Limited, has said it would embark on massive deworming of school children in Nigeria to commemorate its 40th year anniversary.

Idowu Obasa, the chairperson of the company, disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference in Lagos.

Mr Obasa said the company would mark its 40th anniversary in August and the most important aspect of the anniversary is the massive deworming of school pupils across the country, in addition to launch of new products.

"We plan to deworm 400,000 children as a corporate social responsibility effort to mark this milestone," he said.

Mr Obasa said the company has written to the necessary authorities in different states to seek their permission to embark on the deworming of children, adding that the exercise will hold in most states of Nigeria except dangerous zones where insecurity is prevalent.

He said the company would start the exercise on August 27 in Ilorin, Kwara State, and teams will be deployed to different states in accordance to the schedule from the state authorities.

Speaking on the choice of deworming children to mark the 40th milestone of the company, Mr Obasa said: "We want to touch as many lives as possible and we think the most practicable way is deworming children. If we say we want to give 400,000 syrups it might probably not be a big thing at the end of the day," he said.

Biomedical is the first indigenous pharmaceutical company in Nigeria to manufacture and distribute intravenous fluids, dialysis and irrigation fluids and oral rehydration salts, the company said.

Although it was incorporated in 1978, the company started production on intravenous fluids on August 21, 1981.

Mr Obasa, who is an accountant, said celebrating 40 years of the company's existence is a reminder that they must keep raising the standards in production of pharmaceutical products.

He added that to mark the milestone, the company is presenting 22 new syrups to the market, and formally launching an ultra-modern syrup factory on August 27

"The new products of the company are for different kinds of ailments and would provide relief for users," he said.

Speaking on the ways the government can assist the industry, Mr Obasa said there should be special benefits for the pharmaceutical industry to aid import of materials and production of pharmaceutical products.

"Since the industry is heavily dependent on import, one would expect that the government will give us special treatments in terms of rate to forex, access to forex and declaration of goods," he said.

He urged the Nigerian government to render necessary support to indigenous pharmaceutical companies in the country.