2016 Budget: Allocation to Health Sector More Than N200 Billion – Presidency

The Presidency has denied the allegation that that President Muhammadu Buhari will spend more on the state house clinic than on all federal government owned teaching hospital, describing it as ‘off the mark and insensitive.’

According to the reports, if the proposed budget is approved as presented to federal lawmakers, the State House Clinic will get N787 million more in capital allocation than all the 16 teaching hospitals combined.

In a statement, the senior special assistant, media to the president, Garba Shehu however said contrary to the report, the total sum for health institutions as given by the director-general, budget office is more than N200bn.

‘‘According to the draft budget presented to the National Assembly, the budget for the clinic is N3.8b,’’ Garba added.

He said the teaching hospitals have more than 50 percent of the allocation for health and challenged anyone interested to check out the detailed allocations to the teaching hospitals,the federal medical centers and the specialist hospitals owned by the federal government.

“The increased spending on government health institutions in the current budget should be seen in the light of the administration’s plan to improve medical facilities at home as a way of discouraging overseas trips in search of treatment,’’he said.