2018 budget: N57.1bn strictly for primary health care – Senate

The Senate yesterday explained that the N57.1 billion expected to be realised from one per cent deduction from consolidated revenue fund in the 2018 budget estimates “is strictly meant for provision of primary health care service delivery.”
The chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Lanre Tejuoso (APC, Ogun Central) disclosed this while briefing Senate correspondents. Tejuoso, at the briefi ng also attended by officials of USAID, added that “in making sure that the money is spent for purpose meant for, each of the primary health care centres will get its allocation directly and not through local government councils.”
According to him, the arrangement is a game changer in the health sector that will make health care delivery services available and effective at the grassroots across the country.
“This one per cent is to take care of primary health care and to ensure that pregnant mothers, children can easily just work to nearby clinic to take care of their vaccination and antenatal and simple things like fever. “The value is about N57.1 billion.
The game changer for Nigerian health sector is implementation of this one per cent. So, I decided to focus on it rather than trying to introduce another bill that will not be obeyed,” he said.
He, however, added that two per cent of the N57.1 billion would be set aside for the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for control of emergency outbreak of diseases. He said: “As regards the communicable diseases emergencies we realise that the Nigerian government is very good at emergency, whenever there is any outbreak, they are very good at releasing funds for such outbreaks.
“We decided that out of this one per cent deduction from consolidated revenue fund which will amount to N57.1bn, two per cent will be set aside for NCDC to control disease. “In this one per cent, NCDC will get two per cent that we will be building up over time, the money will not go to TSA, it will just be in a fund for them, when they have an emergency they can access fund from it to fight it.”