The Nigerian government has disclosed plans to disburse about N50 billion for the upgrade and expansion of Primary Health Centres (PHC) across the country by the first quarter of 2024.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate while speaking at the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, said the fund would be sourced from the Basic HealthCare Provision Fund (BHCPF).
Mr Pate said this is part of the present’s administration target to expand PHC facilities from 8,000 to 17,000 over the next four years.
“In the first quarter of 2024, at least N50 billion, which has already accrued in the BHCPF, will be disbursed through the State’s primary health care facilities to deliver services to women and children,” he said.
“That is part of the target that Mr President has set for us so that we can expand the facilities over the next four years and also to enrol more vulnerable Nigerians to have access to quality healthcare services.”
He said the government would remain vigilant in overseeing the utilisation of the disbursed funds, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.
He noted that the work of the MOC will refine the criteria, issues of the package and ensure accountability in the process of disbursing and utilising the fund.
BHCPF
The federal government established the BHCPF in 2014, under Section 11 of the National Health Act; to provide funding to improve access to primary health care.
It was designed to be financed from not less than one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federal government and other sources including donors’ contributions.
The Fund provides a Basic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS) aimed at increasing the fiscal space for health, strengthening the national health system, particularly at the PHC level, and ensuring access to healthcare for all.
Although it was established in 2014, the actual implementation of the law, including the release of funds, did not commence until 2018.
Commitments
The WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Walter Mulombo, said the deliberations at the meeting were encouraging, especially as it followed the recently launched Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.
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Mr Mulombo said the discussions at the meeting were in the right direction because they set the tone for a reset and business unusual to accelerate achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The chairman of the Forum of Health Commissioners in Nigeria, Oyebanji Filani, said the meeting was to debate, review and agree on a set of issues that would enable the country to move towards a very clear path to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) using the BHCPF.
Mr Filani said “We have discussed a number of challenges that we have had, we explored opportunities to address these challenges, and we are quite confident that as we go into the new year, we will be moving in the right direction.”
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