House of Representatives, on Thursday, unveiled plans to investigate the sum of N128 billion released so far for the implementation of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF) by the last administration.
The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion jointly sponsored by the Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvebere and Hon. Henry Okojie who frowned at the non-implementation of the BHPF across the country.
In his lead debate, Hon. Okojie observed that the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund was established in the National Health Act to extend Primary Health Care (PHC) to all Nigerians by substantially increasing the level of financial resources to PHC services.
“The House also notes that the BHCPF is funded from the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund and supplemented by grants from local and international donors, partners, the private sector, philanthropic organisations, and funds generated from innovative sources such as taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.
“The House further notes that the Act provides that Half of the Fund will be used to provide a basic package of services in PHC facilities through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) while 45% will be disbursed by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) for essential drugs, maintaining PHC facilities, equipment and transportation, and strengthening human resource capacity and the final 5% will be used by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to respond to health emergencies and epidemics.
“The House is aware that since the establishment of the National Health Act in 2014, only about N128 billion has been released from the Federation Account.
“The House is concerned that disbursement of the fund to States was withheld because most of them failed to contribute the 25% counterpart funding towards Primary Health Care (PHC) projects, which is the criteria that makes them eligible for fund donations, neither did they give a proper account of the funds released to them.
“The House is also concerned that the disbursement of the fund to the three tiers of government has been fraught with irregularities, including delayed transfer of funds, poor data management, corruption and the lack of
preparedness of Local Government Health Authorities to manage the Fund.
“The House is cognizant that the fund is structured in such a way that, if properly implemented, it would take a lot of stress out of healthcare endeavours in the country.
“The House is also cognizant of the need to commence full implementation of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) and devise strategies to ensure accountability between the stakeholders at different levels of government,” he noted.
To this end, the House urged Federal Ministry of Health to commence full implementation of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund and ensure that all the stakeholders play their respective roles to ensure a successful disbursement and utilisation of the funds.
Hence, the House mandated its Committee on Healthcare Services to investigate the hindrances to full implementation of the Fund since inception to ensure that all bottlenecks to its successful implementation are effectively tackled and report back within six weeks for further legislative action.
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