Some good news is coming out of Kano at last. Away from the gory details we have been having in the recent past about how meningitis has been ravaging the state and neighboring states (the death toll at the last count was officially over 1,000 – even with all the under-reporting involved), the news from the ancient merchant city now is that the state government and Pfizer are now about to reach a final settlement with regard to the Trovan case.
It is 13 years since Pfizer embarked on the trials during a terrible meningitis epidemic in Kano. It is now generally known from court papers that the pharmaceutical company did not sneak into Nigeria to administer lethal drugs on the populace as alleged but that the whole exercise had all the necessary approvals of the relevant consenting authorities. It is no longer debatable, too, that Pfizer helped save lives – a fact confirmed by the thousands of deaths this year which show that the disease is the culprit not the company.
So far, the legal tangle has been more of motion without movement and it is doubtful that if the cases were to be pursued to their logical conclusion, the government and the people would walk away smiling. Analysts have therefore been upbeat about the fact that the settlement talks are at last yielding dividends.
Although Pfizer is keeping sealed lips as to the full details of the settlement, journalists have been able to learn from sources close to the government that a total sum of $75 million will be spent by Pfizer in funding various items on the negotiation menu. It was gathered that the company will provide some funds for the patients who participated in the study (or their next of kin where appropriate). But due diligence will be strictly applied every step of the way.
Modalities for verification are being worked out and only those certified to have participated in the study will benefit from the fund, providing also that those with medically proven disabilities from the meningitis affliction will get higher sums than those not so affected. It will be interesting to see how the final list of beneficiaries will be arrived at, considering the fact that the 13-year-old documents required in the case may not be all available.
However, close watchers, especially civil society groups, agree that strict verification has to be carried out. They point to the recent disclosures in the newspapers that fake ‘Trovan victim lists’ have been in circulation in Kano. Many of those on the list, it was revealed, were born crippled but were smuggled into the fake lists to defraud the settlement process. It was in view of this kind of development that Pfizer is said to have insisted right from the onset that everything has to be transparent because that was the only way the funds could get to their intended destination. It is no longer considered prophetic to say that if the rules are not stiff and clear, most of the funds will end up in private bank accounts as has happened in other cases in the country.
Pfizer is also said to be interested in funding the rehabilitation of the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Kano, the building of a pediatric wing in the facility and capacity building for the medical personnel to enable them cope with possible epidemics in future. The only credible way to actualize these noble objectives is to ensure that the funds are administered by a neutral body comprising men and women of integrity, possibly an international non-governmental organization, NGO, with representatives of the Kano State Government, civil society and Pfizer itself.
If diligently implemented, the Pfizer Fund can change the face of healthcare in Kano forever. The grapevine has it that $30 million is earmarked for the development fund. In local currency, that is N5.1 Billion – more than the budget provision for healthcare in Kano State for the whole of 2009! Such a hefty sum must not be handled carelessly because of the quantum of good it can do in the lives of the people of Kano.
It is expected that the Kano State Government will support Pfizer’s insistence on due process and transparency in the implementation of all the fine details of the agreement. There cannot be ghost beneficiaries, nor can there be phantom projects that will never see the light of day. As rightly noted by a non-governmental organization, Mens Sana, this settlement provides a great opportunity to retool the IDH in Kano and change the lives of the beneficiaries and the generality of Kano people for good.
The greed of a few individuals to hijack the funds cannot be allowed to scuttle a God-sent opportunity to put this sorry saga behind us and face the future with hope and determination to confront coming challenges with courage.
Feelers from the Kano State Government appear positive, going by the reported reaction of the Attorney-General Aliyu Umar, on BBC’s Hausa service: "They promised not to disclose the amounts involved until they sit down and negotiate how to implement the agreement."
Pfizer’s spokesman, Chris Loder, said in a statement issued in New York shortly after news of the ‘settlement details’ hit the airwaves, “While progress has been made in conversations with the Kano State government, there is no agreement at this time. Indeed, several critical issues remain unresolved regarding key procedures to prevent any misappropriation of funds. The parties must also agree on specific health initiatives to ensure the benefits of the settlement are transparent and realized. Pfizer’s intention is to bring the Trovan matter to a fair and final resolution and we are committed to remaining at the negotiating table until that is accomplished.”
So close and yet so far? Whatever happens henceforward, it is our hope and prayer that the Trovan patients and the people of Kano who will benefit from the other Pfizer initiatives will not be swindled out of their entitlements.
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3 comments:
The Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer can now lay all its worries to rest as the issue of Trovan being the killer drug it’s no longer tenable. Records of recent death as a result of the Meningitis scourge has further proven meningitis to be the killer.
The rehabilitation of the Infectious Disease Hospital and the training of medical personnel are issues of interest to close watcher.
I very much agree that the most credible way to effectively get the above done justly is to ensure that the fund are administered by a neutral body comprising men and women of integrity, NGOs with representatives of the Kano State Government, Civil Society and Pfizer.
By so doing hawks waiting to pounce on the fund will be disappointed and the job would have been done.
With the much talked about and bandied Trovan list where all sorts of names not involved in the study have crept into including names such as Anas mohammed who was treated with the control drug but is been falsely portrayed as a Trovan patient, another typical example is that of Auwalu Magaji, a grand Son of a village head who was born crippled but is now claiming to have been deformed as a result of his participation in Trovan drug test, I’m anxious to know what will happen to the real Patients, not to mention the fact that there are survivals of the 1996 Trovan drug study that are not with any form of deformity whatsoever.
In the light of all these falsehood, strict verification which will include DNA test should be carried out to certify who the real patients are.
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