The Federal Government has disbursed N130.8 billion for healthcare services through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) since its inception in 2019.
Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, Director of the BHCPF, made the announcement on Wednesday during a media engagement in Abuja. According to Muhammad, another N12.9 billion is yet to be distributed in 2024.
According to the News Agency, BHCPF is a fundamental component of Nigeria’s National Health Act 2014, which aims to ensure that all Nigerians, particularly the poor and vulnerable, have access to essential healthcare services.
The fund is distributed through four gateways: the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC), and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Giving a breakdown of the disbursements over the years, Muhammad said N14 billion was disbursed in 2019, N13 billion in 2020, N34 billion in 2021, N13 billion in 2022, N31 billion in 2023 and N26.8 billion 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 fulfill before you get that grant as a state or as a local government.
“First, you must provide what we call counterpart fund, and must bring your facility up to a certain standard so that you can get the fund 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, Special Duties, Dr Oritseweyinmi Ogbe, said 45 per cent was allocated through the agency for 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 development of human resource for PHC.
He, however, noted that, based on the reforms carried out by NPHCDA, primary healthcare centers are now classified according to functionality.
