FG: Over N203bn Spent on Revitalisation of Primary Healthcare Centres in 4 Years

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

More than N203 billion has been released so far by the federal government, through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), to fix facilities in 8, 800 primary healthcare centres out of the over 40,000 of such centres in the country. This leaves a gap of about 32,000 facilities that are not reached with the one per cent consolidated revenue fund implementation through BHCPF as approved by the Establishment Act.

The disclosure was made at the weekend in Abuja in a presentation by acting National Coordinator of the Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in Nigeria, Ibrahim Tajudeen, at the national media meeting on the global fund malaria community-led monitoring project.
Tajudeen also said the global fund had made available about $1. 8 million grant through the national malaria programme for the training of frontline health workers in the 13 states where the fund was currently executing anti-malaria programmes.

However, Nigeria National Coordinator, Civil Society in Malaria Control, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN), organisers of the programme, Ayo Ipinmoye, said under the new policy, efforts should be shifted to community-led monitoring of health sector interventions in order to make them more result-oriented.
Ipinmoye said funding for primary healthcare delivery should be carefully mapped out and sanctions applied against any misappropriation or mismanagement to enable a robust public health programme at the ward levels in local governments.

The acting coordinator of CCM said the expectations from the new sector-wide policy by the federal government were that it help mobilise more resources for development of primary healthcare centres towards the achievement of the universal health coverage.
Tajudeen said the sector-wide approach would help to redesign the current basic healthcare provision fund to make it have far-reaching impact.

He said, “You will recall that when the BHCPF was recommended through the National Health Act, one per cent of the consolidated revenue funds was expected to be allocated to the BHCPF annually and in in the last four years, over N203 billion has been released through the BHCPF and only 8, 800 facilities out of the over 40,000 facilities in the country, leaving a gap of about 32,000 facilities, that are not participating in the one percent consolidated revenue fund implementation through BHCPF.”

Tajudeen said the federal government had already announced that facilities participating in BHCPF will be increased from the current 8,800 to 17,000, adding that if the government is able to achieve that within the next two years, a lot of progress would have been made in attaining the universal healthcare target.