Towards revitalizing primary healthcare centres (PHCs) across the country, the Federal Government has earmarked N260 billion for that purpose.
This was disclosed on Friday in Abuja by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate, while giving an account of his stewardship at the ministerial sectoral briefings on President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s performance in the last one year.
The revitalisation, he said, is in line with the president’s directive.
According to him, the fund is available at the state levels through International Development Association (IDA) financing and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
The Minister said “We are now providing guidelines to assist the states in the implementation of the revitalisation projects, ensuring that the resources are used prudently for their intended purposes,”
Prof Pate also said 1,400 PHCs could now provide skilled birth attendance, funded through the BHCPF.
The first tranche of N35 million, he said, has been disbursed to 8,300 facilities through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
He explained that a condition was put forward to the states that would access it.
The states, he said, must comply with the fiduciary guidelines that would be provided in response to lapses observed over the years.
“Thirty-three states have received those funds, and the rest are just about to complete and receive their financing to channel through the PHCs,” Prof Pate said.
He said that a plan was outlined through NPHCDA, in collaboration with the states, to revive 8,300 PHCs across the nation to make them fully functional and to expand and upgrade to 17,000 PHCs over the next three years.
“The expansion is to refurbish the centres, equip them and make them fully functional to deliver essential services,” the Minister said.
On workforce, he said over 2,400 health workers, doctors, nurses, and midwives were recruited in facilities, with many in rural areas to provide essential services to Nigerians.
According to him, the federal government doubled the enrolment quota of medical schools, nursing schools and other health conventional schools from 28,000 a year to 64,000 a year.
He said that in the last one year, the administration completed 201 infrastructure projects in federal hospitals and procured 179 specific pieces of important medical equipment.
He added that the federal government also distributed the medical equipment procured across the 36 states.
“Over the last nine months, in 33 of our federal tertiary hospitals, 4.5 million Nigerians could access outpatient services, and 1.6 million Nigerians had inpatient admissions in those 33 facilities,” the minister said.
He also announced that plans were underway for the ground-breaking ceremony of 10 healthcare infrastructure projects, including diagnostic centres and oncology centres, through the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) across the six geopolitical zones.
For health insurance, Prof Pate said that to expand affordability and financial protection, the federal government was repositioning NHIA to expand insurance coverage for all Nigerians, especially the poor and vulnerable, not excluding civil servants who need deepened coverage.
He added that 1.8 million Nigerians were covered through the Vulnerable Groups Fund at NHIA.
The minister said that improving governance was crucial for advancing the health and welfare sector, but it required collaboration between the federal government, states, development partners, the private sector, and civil society.
He added that for the first time, development partners signed a compact governing the nation’s joint operations with them.
“This also included the private sector and civil society. At that event, our partners pledged three billion dollars, reflecting their confidence in the president’s agenda.
“Of this pledge, we have signed a $932 million grant with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), $200 million with a philanthropic foundation.
“We expect an additional $60 million in grants, $150 million announced by the Gavi Alliance, in addition to a $1 billion facility governed by MoU signed with Afreximbank to unlock the healthcare value chains,” the Minister stated
(NAN)