Lara Adejoro
The Federal Government has approved a total of N25. 8bn for disbursement from the Basic Health Provision Fund for the upgrade and expansion of primary healthcare centres across the country.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate disclosed after the meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee for the BHCPF.
He said the FG is committed to improving the health of Nigerians and enhancing healthcare accessibility, affordability, and ensuring quality service delivery.
The money, Pate explained is meant to provide healthcare services at the grassroots level as well as health insurance for the vulnerable segment of society and will be channelled through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, and National Health Insurance Authority.
The BHCPF was established under section 11 of the National Health Act as catalytic funding to improve access to primary health care.
The BHCPF is derived from an annual grant from the Federal Government of not less than one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, grants by international donor partners; and funds from any other source, inclusive of the private sector.
“We met with health sector agencies, state commissioners of health and development partners and we took a few decisions that are important in advancing our aspirations to expand the primary health care and social outcomes. One of them is to inaugurate seven technical working groups on various thematic areas that affect what we do in the Ministry of Health.
“Secondly, we approved the disbursement of N25 billion through the PHCPF channels to the states of the federation through the gateways – the NPHCDA and NHIA gateways.
“This is to provide them directly with facility financing as well as resources to be able to satisfy their own workforce and for the NHIA to be able to provide financial protection for vulnerable populations,” Pate added.
He said the Committee agreed to inaugurate seven Technical Working Groups on various thematic areas that will appraise the content of what the government does in the health sector to ensure that they are qualitative.
The minister who recalled that President Bola Tinubu unveiled the health sector Renewal Investment initiative in December 2023, said that government wants to make sure that every fund that is made available for primary health care for both the federal and state governments are channelled towards service delivery
On his part, the Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Muyiwa Aina, said some of the funds will be deployed to health facilities to get commodities they need to provide services to Nigerians including, light, water and Ad-hoc staffing to make the facilities work.
He emphasised the importance of transparency in expenditure and announced the establishment of a dedicated call line for whistleblowers to report any discrepancies or malpractices observed in the field.
“Reforms in programme implementation are underway, with a focus on incentivising PHCs to provide high-quality care. Investments are earmarked for improving the quality of facilities nationwide, informed by ongoing assessments to gauge the state of primary health centres. Our goal is to ensure that every Nigerian has access to the basic services they need,” Aina added.
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