By Folasade Akpan
The Federal Government has disbursed N130.8bn for healthcare delivery through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) since it became operational in 2019 till date.
The BHCPF Director, Dr Mukhtar Muhammad, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a media engagement.
According to Muhammad, another N12.9bn is yet to be disbursed for 2024.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that BHCPF is a key component of Nigeria’s National Health Act 2014, designed to ensure that every Nigerian has access to basic healthcare services, particularly the poor and vulnerable populations.
The fund is disbursed through four gateways, namely the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC) and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Giving a breakdown of the disbursements over the years, Muhammad said N14bn was disbursed in 2019, N13bn in 2020, N34bn in 2021, N13bn in 2022, N31bn in 2023 and N26.8bn disbursed so far in 2024.
The director said that the fund is made up of one per cent from the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and donor contributions aimed at strengthening the healthcare system and improving its delivery.
He added that “the BHCPF is a special Federal Government intervention fund, it is not an allocation, it is a grant and for you to get a grant, you have to earn that grant.
“There are conditions you must fulfil before you get that grant as a state or as a local government. First, you must provide what we call a counterpart fund and must bring your facility up to a certain standard so that you can get the funds to start providing services.
“So, it is not just every Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) we are going to take, as the centres must meet the minimum standard requirements.
“However, the special intervention does not mean that states and local governments would not carry out their responsibilities toward healthcare delivery, rather, they are to be held accountable.”
On NPHCDA’s gateway disbursement, the Director of Special Duties, Dr Oritseweyinmi Ogbe, said 45 per cent was allocated through the agency for the provision of essential medicines, vaccines, and consumables in PHCs.
He added that fund was also allocated for the provision and maintenance of facilities, equipment, and transportation in PHCs and the development of human resources for PHCs.
He, however, noted that based on the reforms carried out by NPHCDA, Primary Healthcare Centres are now classified according to functionality.
