FG Expands Basic Healthcare Coverage To 13,000 Facilities, Releases N40.7bn To States

The government also announced a quarterly disbursement of N40.7 billion to states under the fund, alongside plans to recruit frontline health workers and extend health insurance coverage to 90,000 vulnerable Nigerians.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday while briefing journalists on the outcome of a meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) on the implementation of the BHCPF.

He said the additional facilities were selected based on equity considerations, including disease burden, population distribution and distance to healthcare services.

Pate attributed the increase in funding available to the programme to the Federal Government’s fiscal and macroeconomic reforms, noting that monthly disbursements into the fund had almost doubled.

He, however, urged state and local governments to increase their investments in primary healthcare, stressing that the Federal Government could not sustainably finance the system alone.

“The only way this will work is if we approach this as a national health system. The federal government does its part, but states must also do their part to ensure that the funding is sustained,” he said.

The minister disclosed that the government was also working to recruit frontline health workers using savings made by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), with plans to transition their funding to state and local governments over the next three years.

He said the arrangement was intended to address staffing shortages in primary healthcare facilities while ensuring that states gradually assumed responsibility for sustaining the workforce.

Pate also called for the adoption of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to strengthen accountability and monitor the use of public healthcare funds.

According to him, reliance on manual and paper-based records makes it difficult to determine whether funds released to health facilities translate into services delivered to patients.

He said digital tools could help track expenditure, identify irregularities and provide evidence of how funds were utilised, provided adequate cybersecurity measures were in place to protect sensitive information.

The minister urged civil society organisations, community leaders and the media to work with the joint task force established alongside the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to monitor funds released directly to healthcare facilities.

He stressed that effective oversight, transparent reporting and regular monitoring were necessary to ensure that the increased funding improved access to quality healthcare.

On efforts to reduce the cost of medicines and other essential health commodities, Pate said the committee discussed pooled procurement arrangements to help primary healthcare facilities obtain supplies at better prices.

He said the initiative was expected to improve value for money and ensure that increased public spending translated into more affordable services for patients.

The meeting also considered measures to strengthen health insurance coverage for vulnerable populations, with the minister disclosing that about 90,000 beneficiaries would be included under the vulnerable health insurance arrangement.

He said the initiative was part of efforts to protect Nigerians who might otherwise struggle to afford essential healthcare services.

Pate further disclosed that the committee discussed responses to disease outbreaks, including Lassa fever, cholera and diphtheria.

Expressing concern over deaths associated with Lassa fever, he said many could be prevented through timely interventions and adequate funding, urging states to strengthen their outbreak response capacity.

He also called on parents and caregivers to ensure that children received recommended vaccinations against diphtheria, describing the disease as vaccine-preventable.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, also emphasised the need for efficient use of additional healthcare resources, particularly through improved procurement practices.

Beyond primary healthcare, Pate said the federal government was pursuing interventions to rehabilitate federal teaching and tertiary hospitals and improve diagnostic infrastructure and cancer care facilities.

He said the administration remained committed to strengthening healthcare financing, improving institutional capacity and ensuring that public resources translated into measurable improvements in access to and quality of healthcare.