BHCPF: Over 1,000 Primary Healthcare Centers Receive Direct Funding

To ensure resources reach facilities and communities most in need,  over 1,000 primary healthcare centers now receive direct funding through the revitalized Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate made this known in Abuja  at the 3rd National Health Summit on “𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚, with the theme,” 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭”

He said emergency obstetric care had also been expanded, with 30 hospitals offering prequalified emergency obstetrics services, including free cesarean sections and fistula repair surgeries to break down financial barriers that lead to preventable tragedies.

‘‘We are advancing infrastructure development at an unprecedented pace. six cancer centers and eight diagnostic facilities are under construction, with three set to open by May 2025. Solarization of critical hospital units and the installation of oxygen plants in 44 tertiary hospitals to further strengthen care delivery.”

 ”To address human resource shortages, training quotas for medical professionals have doubled, and 43,000 frontline health workers have already been retrained, advancing toward the target of 120,000 by 2027. 

According to the minister, ”The Health Workforce Migration Policy is improving working conditions to ensure the retention and better distribution of healthcare professionals.”

Professor Pate who noted that the partnership with the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA leadership, and development partners had been pivotal to some successes, commended their dedication and collaborative spirit which reflected the unity of purpose necessary to achieve sustainable progress in healthcare delivery.

”These achievements, driven by President Tinubu’s leadership, underscore our collective resolve to save lives, reduce suffering, and ensure equitable access to quality care for all Nigerians.”

” While challenges remain, the progress made within just one year is a powerful demonstration of what is possible when well-crafted policies are paired with decisive action, together, we are building a resilient healthcare system that will stand as a cornerstone of national development for generations to come,” he added.

The president of the Nigerian Medical Association, Professor Bala Audu said the essence of the health summit was to examine the country’s healthcare policies and Look at how well Nigeria is doing in implementing the policies.

He said the summit also aims to identify gaps in the policies and in the implementation process, to develop solutions that will ensure that the policies impact positively the population health indices by ensuring that the NMA delivers quality, patient-centered, respectable healthcare to all Nigerians at affordable rate within the concept of universal health care.

” Of this policy is the need for us to develop the medical and pharmaceutical ecosystem that will enable our country to be able to produce at least 70% of its healthcare requirements, both in terms of medications and In terms of equipment, but to be able to achieve that, we need to buy in on the sector-wide approach that would ensure that all players are brought together in one window to be able to move forward.”

Professor Audu said there was a need to harness the best brains in the health manpower and collaborate in order to create quality health care that is funded as well as ensure that all Nigerians receive, quality, patient-centered, respectable care without financial difficulties.