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Tag: PHCs

  • FG disburses N32.9 billion to PHCs

    FG disburses N32.9 billion to PHCs

    The Federal Government has released ₦32.9 billion to States and Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the country under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF), marking the third disbursement this year. 

    The funds, approved by the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) and guided by the newly launched BHCPF 2.0 Guidelines, are aimed at improving service delivery, supporting health workers, and expanding access to essential healthcare nationwide.

    The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this on Wednesday at the 3rd Quarter MOC Meeting in Abuja, where he asserted that the new guidelines represent a major milestone in the administration’s health reform agenda under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, designed to strengthen transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the use of public health funds.

    Pate also disclosed that a Joint Task Force, working with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has been activated to monitor and ensure proper utilization of the funds at the community level. 

    Highlighting Nigeria’s growing health coverage, the Minister revealed that over 21 million Nigerians are now enrolled in health insurance schemes. 

    Through the BHCPF, more than 11,000 pregnant women have received emergency medical treatment, 15,000 women accessed obstetric care, and 500,000 pregnant women benefited from maternal health coverage, he said.

    He added that primary healthcare centres across the country recorded more than 80 million visits in the first half of 2025, representing a fourfold increase compared to 2023, stressing that the surge reflects rising public confidence in government health services.

    To further track progress, the Minister announced plans for a Mini Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 2026 to provide up-to-date data on maternal and child health outcomes. 

    Preliminary findings, he said, already show a 12 percent reduction in maternal mortality compared to 2023, an encouraging sign that recent reforms are yielding measurable results.

    The MOC also approved major governance and accountability reforms, including the launch of a fully digital platform for the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC) within two weeks to improve emergency response and reporting. 

    States are to submit verified beneficiary data with National Identification Numbers by December 2025, while new public interest and conflict of interest protocols will strengthen transparency. 

    The Ministry also directed State Social Health Insurance Agencies to track claims processing, institutionalized Data Quality Assessments to ensure report accuracy, and reaffirmed its commitment to stronger health systems and universal health coverage through sustained reforms.

    Prof. Pate also highlighted achievements in the ongoing integrated immunization campaign, targeting 106 million children aged 0 to 14 years against measles, rubella, polio, and neglected tropical diseases. 

    The campaign, he said, has already achieved over 92 percent uptake in northern states, surpassing initial expectations.

  • Alabi to inaugurate 23 roads, PHCs, others

    Alabi to inaugurate 23 roads, PHCs, others

    The Chairman of Bariga Local Councils, Kolade Alabi, is set to inaugurate numerous projects in the council.

    The projects include inauguration of 23 roads, five primary healthcare centers (PHCs), four schools, and one fire station.

    The Nation learnt that the ambitious initiative underscores his commitment to infrastructure development and improving essential services for residents.

    Read Also: Michael/Felicia Alabi Memorial Table Tennis gets date

    Under Alabi’s leadership, Bariga Local Council has witnessed notable progress, particularly in road construction and healthcare accessibility.

    His administration has been actively addressing community needs, including ongoing projects such as the Olorunkemi road project and many others.

    With these new developments, the council aims to enhance mobility, education, healthcare, and emergency response services, fostering a more sustainable and livable environment for the people of Bariga.

  • FG disburses N130b to PHCs

    FG disburses N130b to PHCs

    The federal government has invested N130.8 billion over the past five years to equip primary healthcare centers (PHCs) across the nation.

    In 2024, the government disbursed N25.8 billion, with an additional N12.9 billion set to be released.

    This investment is part of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), a strategic initiative aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality while ensuring quality healthcare is accessible to all Nigerians, particularly the most vulnerable.

    The funds have been allocated to 8,809 PHCs nationwide, ensuring that at least one center exists in every political ward within each Local Government Area (LGA).

    The disbursement was carried out through key health agencies, including the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the National Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (NEMTC), and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

    During the same period, 1.96 million Nigerians were enrolled under the NHIA, broadening the scope of accessible health coverage.

    According to Mukhtar Muhammad, Secretary of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC), the BHCPF aims to expand its coverage, doubling the number of PHCs in every ward by 2027.

    However, Muhammad emphasized that PHCs can only access these funds if they meet strict fund-tracking criteria and if the State governments contribute the required 25% counterpart funding.

    Read Also: UHC: FG disburses N25bto PHCs nationwide

    During a recent BHCPF media engagement in Abuja, Muhammad highlighted the significant challenges hindering the implementation of mandates despite the significant milestones it has been able to achieve since its inception.

    The BHCPF is designed to remove barriers to accessing primary healthcare, especially for those in remote areas.

    These centers, being the closest healthcare facilities to the people, are intended to provide quality care with trained health workers and necessary equipment.

    The fund is disbursed through four main gateways: the NHIA (48.75%), NPHCDA (45%), NEMTC (5%), and NCDC (1.25%).

    According to Muhammad, the necessity of the BHCPF becomes clear when considering Nigeria’s alarming health statistics. Despite representing only 2.4% of the world’s population, Nigeria accounts for 10% of global maternal deaths.

    He said the maternal mortality rate stands at 1,047 deaths per 100,000 live births, while approximately 262,000 newborns die at birth each year—the second highest rate globally, while infant mortality is currently at 69 per 1,000 live births, and for children under five, the rate is 128 per 1,000.

    He said: “The strategic funding is essential to address these critical issues at the basic healthcare level.

    “The initiative seeks to improve maternal and newborn care, to ensure that every LGA has at least one functional facility providing emergency obstetric and newborn services.

    “This joint effort between the Federal and State governments is crucial in reducing maternal mortality rates across the country”.

    Muhammad however acknowledged that though significant progress has been made since the BHCPF’s inception, it is still facing some challenges.

    He said that overcoming the persistent issues is vital to achieving the desired goals of quality, accessible, and affordable primary healthcare services.

    The most pressing challenges, according to him, include limited ownership of the BHCPF by state and local governments, and inadequate funding, “The reluctance of State governments to fully own and support the BHCPF is a significant barrier,” Muhammad stated.

    Other challenges include governance and coordination issues, weak health infrastructure, and a lack of human resources, in addition to limited public awareness and participation, coupled with inadequate oversight and monitoring mechanisms, he noted.

    In his presentation, Olusunkami Agboola, who represented NHIA said the national enrollment has gone up significantly rising by 11% under a year.

    According to him, from the low base of an estimated 16 million enrolment into various schemes across the country in quarter 4 of 2023, total national enrolment now stands at about 18.7 million.

    This translates to an increase of about 11% in less than one year, an indication that the ongoing efforts by NHIA and various State government institutions working in the health insurance space are yielding fruit.

    “This enrollment figure has also already surpassed the Presidential target for the year by 8% demonstrating its capability of meeting and exceeding the 2027 target. 

    “The Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate had announced at the end of 2023 that an additional 750,000 Nigerians signed up for health insurance within the first 100 days of the Tinubu administration.  

    Since the beginning of 2023, the NHIA under its current management, has been working on various strategic measures to shore up the figures in pursuit of the administration’s target of universal coverage by 2030.

    Among several measures targeted at improving synergies with public and private sector partners and ultimately enrolment figures, NHIA initiated and is leading the ongoing review of capitation fees paid to healthcare providers.

    “The capitation fees are fixed payments to healthcare providers based on the estimated value of services to patients that constitute a key incentive for achieving improved quality of services and attracting enrollees.

    “Already a temporary rate has been agreed, pending the announcement of a revised rate,” he added.

    Ogbe Oritseweyimi, who represented the NPHCDA gateway said the agency is responsible for strengthening primary healthcare systems.

    He said: “It allocates funds to improve infrastructure at Primary Health Care (PHC) centers, provides essential drugs and vaccines, and supports training for healthcare workers.

    “This gateway also implements public health interventions such as immunization programs and maternal and child health services”

    According to Saidu Ahmed of the NEMTC gateway, the focus is on emergency care, establishing and managing emergency medical response systems, and funding critical cases that cannot afford treatment.

    “It supports the operational needs of emergency medical services nationwide, ensuring timely and effective response to urgent health crises,” he submitted.

    On his part, NCDC representative, John Oladejo said the NCDC Gateway enhances the country’s capacity to manage public health emergencies and disease outbreaks.

    “It conducts surveillance, provides funding for outbreak management, supports laboratory services, and implements public health campaigns to prevent disease spread.

    “This gateway’s inclusion is crucial for improving Nigeria’s response to health emergencies and disease outbreaks,” he said.

  • ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, spoke with select reporters in Ibadan, and talks about how the ministry is pursuing a comprehensive health project to revamp a minimum of one Primary Health Centre in every political ward across the country. Bisi Oladele was there

    Healthcare delivery looks poor in this country. What is your ministry doing to revamp, particularly about the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs)?

    I think we should start by saying upfront that primary health or primary care is not direct responsibility of federal government. But as I have said often and often, our job is to look at the entire healthcare architecture and make sure that we get it right. What we have today is a situation whereby the primary health care is dysfunctional and the secondary is begging for help. The only one that is actually doing good work is the tertiary. People now abandon primary and secondary and work straight to tertiary and this is why we have the problem we have on ground – a situation in which a large majority of our people visit tertiary care is not good. So, what we are trying to do, because we are in charge of policy, is to reverse this unfortunate and unacceptable trend by making sure that we reposition the healthcare system in a way that 85 per cent of our people would go to primary health care rather than going to a teaching hospital and that’s why we have taken the initiative to flag off the programme of revitalization of PHCs and it has become a cardinal programme of this administration.

    There was a time primary education was also in total crisis and the federal government came up with an idea that up till today, teachers were rescued. Is it not possible for the Federal Ministry of Health to also come up with that kind of idea that will rescue primary health care because that is the closet hospitals to the people?

    That is exactly the same reason that necessitated our focusing on PHCs. It has become the cardinal programme of Mr. President and he personally flagged off the Kuchingoro model PHC on January 10 to really demonstrate his commitment to revitalizing PHCs. PHC is the healthcare facility that is the closest to the people. And if you look at the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) manifesto, it identifies healthcare system that is affordable, accessible and of good quality and within 3-5 kilometres to the people and that is why we are focusing on PHCs. And we looked at what we have on ground. We have about 30, 000 PHCs for now but only about 20 per cent of them are working. So we said if we can make one in every political ward function, we would reach about 100 million people. Each political ward has about 10,000 people. So, if we have about 10,000 PHCs we would reach about 100 million people. The National Health Act passed in 2014 has given the Ministry of Health the authority to define what basic healthcare is all about. And for me, the basic healthcare package includes ante-natal care, delivery, treating malaria, checking blood pressure, giving vaccines to young ones and treating other basic problems, testing them for HIV and TB.

    You mentioned affordable healthcare as being part of the APC manifesto. But today, if we go to tertiary health institutions, because of shortage of funds, they look inward to generate additional revenue to plug short fall in their expenses and the implication is that they pass on a lot of expenses to poor patients. Don’t you think that this is contrary to the promise to offer affordable health?

    Well, let me assure you that good care and affordable care do not necessarily imply free care. There is nowhere in the manifesto of APC where we talked about free health care but what I can assure you is that when we say it is affordable, that means those who can afford will pay and then we pay for those who cannot. And that is why we are promoting health insurance, encouraging states to set up health or contributing scheme and we are also looking into setting up a National Health Insurance Commission that will make health insurance compulsory and universal in the country. When you have that, you will be able to put together resources to take care of health. Anywhere health is free, some people must be paying for it. In the United Kingdom (UK), the National Health Service depends on taxation. So what we are currently looking into in the context of Nigeria is how can we put resources together that will afford us the opportunity to take care of health? And one basic provision in the national health care is the prescription giving at least one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund to health to fund basic healthcare and that money will go straight to primary health care. For the first time the PHCs will get money direct from the federal. If we get that right, then this country has actually arrived at what we call a comfortable stage where we can deliver basic healthcare to our people. For now, we have not succeeded. We are talking to our colleagues in the Ministry of Budget and Planning and that of Finance and I have also approached Mr. President to ensure that we put the one per cent in it. We have assurances from the National Assembly that if the Executive contributes that one per cent, they will protect it. So we are quite optimistic that very soon we would have that one per cent. But pending the time that we would have the one per cent, we are doing what we call a scale-up project in three states: Abia, Niger and Osun where we would pilot basic healthcare provision fund, where money directly will flow from central to each of the PHCs. We would open account at the local facility and also engender ownership because the people must own it. We don’t want a situation where federal government will own the facility. It must belong to the people. We would then partner with the states to set up a state primary healthcare development board and a ward development committee so that the people can own the facility.

    The Chief medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, recently suggested the idea that the federal government can make an arrangement for tertiary health institutions to adopt a number of PHCs within their locality to be able to mentor them since they have enough manpower and better facilities. Why can’t this happen?

    We are on the same page with the CMD. I have discussed with him how we can get this done. It is actually a two-phased process. The first thing is to partner with the state to also support their secondary facility. We have more than enough human resources in our teaching hospitals. For example, you get to Sokoto Teaching Hospital there are over 500 doctors there. But if you go to the state hospital, I am sure they have less than 100. Zamfara is a case in point with 122 doctors in the Federal Medical Centre in Gusau. But here are less than 24 doctors in the state hospitals. So, one of the things we are trying to build is a partnership between federal and the states so that they can oversee. In the example in Sokoto, the teaching hospital will also oversee the local government and if we do that, each of our teaching hospitals or medical centres will then supervise the PHCs and it will be good for them for training. It will be good in terms of supervision and we can ensure that the people get good healthcare. The federal system will also be strengthened because if a case cannot be managed at a PHC, that case will immediately leave the PHC. We expect that normal delivery should take place at PHC but if we have complications, hypertensions, convulsion, and baby lying across in the tummy, multiple pregnancy, baby coming by the buttock; those cases should moved to a higher level because we don’t want to risk the lives of women at that level.

    Sir, in medical practice generally or health sector generally, it is believed that prevention is actually better than cure. Do you think government is doing enough in running campaigns to help people embrace practices that prevent sickness?

    This is where we all got it wrong. Health is on the concurrent list. One of the things we want to do is change the perception that the federal government must do everything. That is where we got it wrong. Federal government took over everything; that was okay when we had enough resources. Now that we do not have enough resources we need to share the resources with the states. We are only in charge of policy. States must take care of the people in their states. We cannot have cholera in Kwara and say federal should come and look after them. No, that is the responsibility of Kwara State Government. Kwara must provide water for the citizens because water is what you need to prevent cholera and also ensure that we mange waste properly so that they will not defecate along streams that people will drink. What we are doing at the federal is to change the way and manner we allocate resources. Before we came on board, 80 per cent of the resources at federal level were into curative care. The first we have done now is to change the allocation to preventive care. If you look at the 2016/2017 budget, a large chunk of our capital allocation now is into preventive. We have also given approval for the National Centre for Disease Control that is out to work with states. The disease control centres have trained surveillance officers; these are disease detectives. We have posted them to all the states; we are working with the states so that if there is an outbreak we can quickly nip it in the bud.

    Before now we use to think that VVF is a thing that is restricted to the northern states but now we are talking of VVF in the Southwest and other places…

    There are many southerners who also share that wrong impression or perspective. When we flagged off the VVF repair at Wesley Hill Hospital Ilesa, Osun Sate, the Deputy Governor came and was shocked. In fact, I did not realize why she was asking for the name of the patient we operated on. In one week, we operated about 25 patients. And the Deputy Governor said what is your name? Where are you from? And they said Ikire, Lagos, Osogbo, she was shocked. She said I thought VVF was confined to the North and I said that VVF is all over Nigeria. But what we are doing now is to set up more VVF hospitals, train more people, increase awareness, actively campaign against child marriage and also promote ante-natal care and supervise delivery. Both must work together. If a girl of seven years old gets pregnant and is managed properly, that girl won’t develop VVF. So, we need to combine good care with advocacy and education.

      How would you rate the advocacy of VVF from your ministry so far?

    We are doing well and as I told you, we are not only working alone, we are working with states and we are being supported by the United States government. The USAID has a good programme to engender health working together to improve advocacy. We are working with the Ministry of Women Affairs to improve education of young girls, delay marriage and also make sure that where you get pregnant you go for ante-natal care and supervised delivery.

    As the Minister of Health, what is that one thing that will make you feel fulfilled if your ministry is able to push through today?

    The basic healthcare provision fund.

    What is it about?

    It is one per cent of the consolidated revenue funds going to PHCs because that is the only thing that will make the PHCs survive.

    What is your ministry doing to address this huge shortage of fund for tertiary health institutions?

    Well, I think we must look at the situation from two perspectives. The first thing is to move patients away from the tertiary and that’s why taking care of primary healthcare is good. When I trained in the UCH, you can’t just walk in to the UCH and say I have fever, cough. No. You must come with a referral. If you fail to come with a referral they will send you to the Out-patient Department where someone will see you and may send you back to state hospital or treat you there and say ‘Go away’ or ‘this is a complex case, go and see a consultant.’ When you do that, the consultants in UCH will have more time for those complex cases. There will be enough materials for them, and no one will complain. So that is why it is important to make sure the PHC and secondary healthcare are working. Secondly, we need to put more resources in the tertiary. No doubt about that. We need to upgrade the condition, make sure their water and electricity are efficient, upgrade their equipment and upgrade the skills of the health professionals working there. That is the only thing we can do correctly to stop people from going out and we can save a lot of money. We estimate that we can save up to $1 billion a year if we upgrade our tertiary care centres and government is committed to doing that. In our 2017 budget appropriation, we have money allocated for that strategic investment in tertiary hospitals. We are going to upgrade eight of our facilities – one in each geo-political zone, including the National Hospital, Abuja and LUTH.

     

  • ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, spoke with select reporters in Ibadan, and talks about how the ministry is pursuing a comprehensive health project to revamp a minimum of one Primary Health Centre in every political ward across the country. Bisi Oladele was there

    HEALTHCARE delivery looks poor in this country. What is your ministry doing to revamp, particularly about the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs)?

    I think we should start by saying upfront that primary health or primary care is not direct responsibility of federal government. But as I have said often and often, our job is to look at the entire healthcare architecture and make sure that we get it right. What we have today is a situation whereby the primary health care is dysfunctional and the secondary is begging for help. The only one that is actually doing good work is the tertiary. People now abandon primary and secondary and work straight to tertiary and this is why we have the problem we have on ground – a situation in which a large majority of our people visit tertiary care is not good. So, what we are trying to do, because we are in charge of policy, is to reverse this unfortunate and unacceptable trend by making sure that we reposition the healthcare system in a way that 85 per cent of our people would go to primary health care rather than going to a teaching hospital and that’s why we have taken the initiative to flag off the programme of revitalization of PHCs and it has become a cardinal programme of this administration.

    There was a time primary education was also in total crisis and the federal government came up with an idea that up till today, teachers were rescued. Is it not possible for the Federal Ministry of Health to also come up with that kind of idea that will rescue primary health care because that is the closet hospitals to the people?

    That is exactly the same reason that necessitated our focusing on PHCs. It has become the cardinal programme of Mr. President and he personally flagged off the Kuchingoro model PHC on January 10 to really demonstrate his commitment to revitalizing PHCs. PHC is the healthcare facility that is the closest to the people. And if you look at the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) manifesto, it identifies healthcare system that is affordable, accessible and of good quality and within 3-5 kilometres to the people and that is why we are focusing on PHCs. And we looked at what we have on ground. We have about 30, 000 PHCs for now but only about 20 per cent of them are working. So we said if we can make one in every political ward function, we would reach about 100 million people. Each political ward has about 10,000 people. So, if we have about 10,000 PHCs we would reach about 100 million people. The National Health Act passed in 2014 has given the Ministry of Health the authority to define what basic healthcare is all about. And for me, the basic healthcare package includes ante-natal care, delivery, treating malaria, checking blood pressure, giving vaccines to young ones and treating other basic problems, testing them for HIV and TB.

    You mentioned affordable healthcare as being part of the APC manifesto. But today, if we go to tertiary health institutions, because of shortage of funds, they look inward to generate additional revenue to plug short fall in their expenses and the implication is that they pass on a lot of expenses to poor patients. Don’t you think that this is contrary to the promise to offer affordable health?

    Well, let me assure you that good care and affordable care do not necessarily imply free care. There is nowhere in the manifesto of APC where we talked about free health care but what I can assure you is that when we say it is affordable, that means those who can afford will pay and then we pay for those who cannot. And that is why we are promoting health insurance, encouraging states to set up health or contributing scheme and we are also looking into setting up a National Health Insurance Commission that will make health insurance compulsory and universal in the country. When you have that, you will be able to put together resources to take care of health. Anywhere health is free, some people must be paying for it. In the United Kingdom (UK), the National Health Service depends on taxation. So what we are currently looking into in the context of Nigeria is how can we put resources together that will afford us the opportunity to take care of health? And one basic provision in the national health care is the prescription giving at least one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund to health to fund basic healthcare and that money will go straight to primary health care. For the first time the PHCs will get money direct from the federal. If we get that right, then this country has actually arrived at what we call a comfortable stage where we can deliver basic healthcare to our people. For now, we have not succeeded. We are talking to our colleagues in the Ministry of Budget and Planning and that of Finance and I have also approached Mr. President to ensure that we put the one per cent in it. We have assurances from the National Assembly that if the Executive contributes that one per cent, they will protect it. So we are quite optimistic that very soon we would have that one per cent. But pending the time that we would have the one per cent, we are doing what we call a scale-up project in three states: Abia, Niger and Osun where we would pilot basic healthcare provision fund, where money directly will flow from central to each of the PHCs. We would open account at the local facility and also engender ownership because the people must own it. We don’t want a situation where federal government will own the facility. It must belong to the people. We would then partner with the states to set up a state primary healthcare development board and a ward development committee so that the people can own the facility.

    The Chief medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, recently suggested the idea that the federal government can make an arrangement for tertiary health institutions to adopt a number of PHCs within their locality to be able to mentor them since they have enough manpower and better facilities. Why can’t this happen?

    We are on the same page with the CMD. I have discussed with him how we can get this done. It is actually a two-phased process. The first thing is to partner with the state to also support their secondary facility. We have more than enough human resources in our teaching hospitals. For example, you get to Sokoto Teaching Hospital there are over 500 doctors there. But if you go to the state hospital, I am sure they have less than 100. Zamfara is a case in point with 122 doctors in the Federal Medical Centre in Gusau. But here are less than 24 doctors in the state hospitals. So, one of the things we are trying to build is a partnership between federal and the states so that they can oversee. In the example in Sokoto, the teaching hospital will also oversee the local government and if we do that, each of our teaching hospitals or medical centres will then supervise the PHCs and it will be good for them for training. It will be good in terms of supervision and we can ensure that the people get good healthcare. The federal system will also be strengthened because if a case cannot be managed at a PHC, that case will immediately leave the PHC. We expect that normal delivery should take place at PHC but if we have complications, hypertensions, convulsion, and baby lying across in the tummy, multiple pregnancy, baby coming by the buttock; those cases should moved to a higher level because we don’t want to risk the lives of women at that level.

    Sir, in medical practice generally or health sector generally, it is believed that prevention is actually better than cure. Do you think government is doing enough in running campaigns to help people embrace practices that prevent sickness?

    This is where we all got it wrong. Health is on the concurrent list. One of the things we want to do is change the perception that the federal government must do everything. That is where we got it wrong. Federal government took over everything; that was okay when we had enough resources. Now that we do not have enough resources we need to share the resources with the states. We are only in charge of policy. States must take care of the people in their states. We cannot have cholera in Kwara and say federal should come and look after them. No, that is the responsibility of Kwara State Government. Kwara must provide water for the citizens because water is what you need to prevent cholera and also ensure that we mange waste properly so that they will not defecate along streams that people will drink. What we are doing at the federal is to change the way and manner we allocate resources. Before we came on board, 80 per cent of the resources at federal level were into curative care. The first we have done now is to change the allocation to preventive care. If you look at the 2016/2017 budget, a large chunk of our capital allocation now is into preventive. We have also given approval for the National Centre for Disease Control that is out to work with states. The disease control centres have trained surveillance officers; these are disease detectives. We have posted them to all the states; we are working with the states so that if there is an outbreak we can quickly nip it in the bud.

    Before now we use to think that VVF is a thing that is restricted to the northern states but now we are talking of VVF in the Southwest and other places…

    There are many southerners who also share that wrong impression or perspective. When we flagged off the VVF repair at Wesley Hill Hospital Ilesa, Osun Sate, the Deputy Governor came and was shocked. In fact, I did not realize why she was asking for the name of the patient we operated on. In one week, we operated about 25 patients. And the Deputy Governor said what is your name? Where are you from? And they said Ikire, Lagos, Osogbo, she was shocked. She said I thought VVF was confined to the North and I said that VVF is all over Nigeria. But what we are doing now is to set up more VVF hospitals, train more people, increase awareness, actively campaign against child marriage and also promote ante-natal care and supervise delivery. Both must work together. If a girl of seven years old gets pregnant and is managed properly, that girl won’t develop VVF. So, we need to combine good care with advocacy and education.

    How would you rate the advocacy of VVF from your ministry so far?

    We are doing well and as I told you, we are not only working alone, we are working with states and we are being supported by the United States government. The USAID has a good programme to engender health working together to improve advocacy. We are working with the Ministry of Women Affairs to improve education of young girls, delay marriage and also make sure that where you get pregnant you go for ante-natal care and supervised delivery.

    As the Minister of Health, what is that one thing that will make you feel fulfilled if your ministry is able to push through today?

    The basic healthcare provision fund.

    What is it about?

    It is one per cent of the consolidated revenue funds going to PHCs because that is the only thing that will make the PHCs survive.

    What is your ministry doing to address this huge shortage of fund for tertiary health institutions?

    Well, I think we must look at the situation from two perspectives. The first thing is to move patients away from the tertiary and that’s why taking care of primary healthcare is good. When I trained in the UCH, you can’t just walk in to the UCH and say I have fever, cough. No. You must come with a referral. If you fail to come with a referral they will send you to the Out-patient Department where someone will see you and may send you back to state hospital or treat you there and say ‘Go away’ or ‘this is a complex case, go and see a consultant.’ When you do that, the consultants in UCH will have more time for those complex cases. There will be enough materials for them, and no one will complain. So that is why it is important to make sure the PHC and secondary healthcare are working. Secondly, we need to put more resources in the tertiary. No doubt about that. We need to upgrade the condition, make sure their water and electricity are efficient, upgrade their equipment and upgrade the skills of the health professionals working there. That is the only thing we can do correctly to stop people from going out and we can save a lot of money. We estimate that we can save up to $1 billion a year if we upgrade our tertiary care centres and government is committed to doing that. In our 2017 budget appropriation, we have money allocated for that strategic investment in tertiary hospitals. We are going to upgrade eight of our facilities – one in each geo-political zone, including the National Hospital, Abuja and LUTH.

  • Ayade’ wife donates drugs to PHCs

    Cross River Governor’s wife Dr. Linda Ayade has donated drugs worth millions of naira to the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in the state to promote effective health care delivery.

    Ayade made the donation yesterday in Calabar while inaugurating her health pet project, “Mediatrix Development Foundation (MDF)’’, and the office of the Primary Health care Development Agency.

    She said the government places premium on health, hence it needs to equip PHCs with drugs and modern equipment for efficient service delivery.

    Ayade said that the foundation was formed to channel health and development intervention to the vulnerable and less privileged in the state.

    “We are inaugurating our MDF office today as part of efforts to enhance health care service delivery in the state.

    “We are also donating these drugs worth millions of naira to be distributed across the PHCs in the state,’’ she said.

    Earlier, Director-General, state PHC, Dr Betta Edu, said the agency was a response to Governor Ben Ayade’s passion for the wellbeing of the people.

    Edu said the Nigeria Governors Forum adjudged Cross River Primary Healthcare Development Agency one of the best in the country.

    She commended Ayade for giving health care a boost.

    Also, Dr Inyang Asibong, commissioner for Health, lauded the governor for his prompt response to health issues.

  • FG revitalising 4,000 PHCs – Minister

    FG revitalising 4,000 PHCs – Minister

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said on Monday the Federal Government is revitalising 4,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) as part of efforts to ensure comprehensive health coverage in the country.

    Adewole disclosed this a media parley in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    He said: “We have been very relentless and target-driven in pursuing the noble objective. The President flagged off the revitalisation programme of PHCs on January 10, 2016.

    “We have secured international partnership to make the idea work. Work is either completed or ongoing at 4,000 locations nationwide in PHC intervention sites.

    “The United Kingdom government supported us with 950; World Bank and European Union are doing 1,400 and 700 respectively.

    “The wife of the Senate president is assisting with 36 PHCs, each located in all the states of the federation, FCT ministry assures on rehabilitation of 200 and the federal government will make 1,000 of the PHCs work at the expiration of the 2017 budget.”

    The minister said the country has 30,000 PHCs, adding that current efforts were to reach at least 100 million Nigerians from the revitalisation of 10,000 PHCs.

    He said the revitalised PHCs would be adequately equipped and filled with medical personnel.

    “The centres will provide support in antenatal care, administration of vaccines, test for blood sugar, urine and blood pressure and other tropical related diseases to reduce pressure on the teaching hospitals.

    “Our primary goal in the ministry is to strengthen the sector so that it can deliver affordable, accessible and qualitative services at all levels.

    “States like Bauchi, Borno, Abia and Kaduna are doing a lot in that regard too,’’ he added.

    Adewole said the actualisation of the initiative would save the country at least one billion dollars being lost to medical tourism.

    He added it would also drastically reduce the unnecessary pressure on the foreign exchange to make the economy more stable.

    The minister also said the National hospital in Abuja, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and six other teaching hospitals would receive attention through the strategic resuscitation fund from the 2017 budget.

    NAN

     

  • Phcs and budget politics

    Phcs and budget politics

    In few months time, WHO will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata on Primary Health Care. In one of its reports on Primary Health Care, WHO explained that though, the global health context has changed remarkably over seven decades, the values that lie at the core of the WHO constitution and those that informed the Alma-Ata Declaration have been tested and remain true.  Lamenting our collective failure to align with these values, WHO concludes that this has really impacted negatively on the progress made in health globally.

    Some of the fundamentals of Primary Health Care as captured in the report include the helplessness of a mother suffering complications of labour without access to qualified support, a child missing out on essential vaccinations, an inner-city slum dweller living in squalor. Others include the absence of protection for pedestrians alongside traffic-laden roads and highways and the impoverishment arising from direct payment for care because of lack of health insurance. That particular report published in 2008, revisited the ambitious vision of primary health care as a set of values and principles for growing the development of health systems. In order to achieve the objectives of this vision for Primary Health Care, four sets of reforms that reflect a convergence between the values of primary Health care, the aspirations of citizens and the common health performance challenges that cut across all contexts have been identified and defined. They include universal coverage reforms that ensure that health systems contribute to health equity, social justice and the end of exclusion; service delivery reforms that re-organise health services around people’s needs and expectations; public policy reforms that secure healthier communities by integrating public health actions with primary care by pursuing healthy public policies and strengthening national and transnational public health interventions and finally, leadership reforms that replace disproportionate reliance on command and control on one hand and laissez-faire disengagement of the state on the other.

    In Nigeria, the government has stressed that it is committed to quality and accessible public health services through provision of Primary Health Care (PHC) in rural areas as well as provision of preventive and curative services. According to a research paper on Primary Health Care service in Nigeria by Abdul-Raheem I.S, Oladipupo A.R and Amodu M.O, PHC is provided by local government authority through health care centers and health posts and they are staffed by nurses, midwives, community health officers, health technicians, community health extension workers and by physicians (doctors) especially in the southern part of the country. The services provided at these PHCs include prevention and treatment of communicable diseases, immunization, maternal and child health services, family planning, public health education, environmental health and the collection of statistical data on health and health-related events. The Health Care delivery at the LGA is headed, politically by a supervisory councilor and technically and administratively by the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) of the Local Government.

    The different components of the LGA PHC are manned by personnel of diverse specialty. The LGA is running her primary health care service delivery in compliance with the principles/framework of the National Health Policy. The LGA is divided into various health district/wards so as to enhance maximum benefit of the principle of decentralization of the Health sector whereby people are involved in the PHC processes.

    Providing the historical background to the establishment of the PHC, Alenoghena and Abejegah stated in a journal article on Primary Health Care that the PHC implementation started in 1992 with the commencement of PHC programmes in the Local Government Areas (LGAs). Nigeria therefore, became one of the few countries in the developing world to have systematically decentralized the delivery of basic health services through local government administration. In order to ensure the sustainability of PHC in Nigeria, the Federal Government by Decree number 29 of 1992, set up the National Primary Health Care Development Agency. This body was charged with the responsibility to mobilize support nationally and internationally for PHC Programme implementation.

    In a recent attack on the National Assembly for cutting the budget of his omnibus ministry, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Minister for Works, Power and Housing, berated the lawmakers for removing the substance of his Ministry’s budget and left him to superintend the digging of boreholes and oversee the construction and renovation of Primary  Health Care centres. Initially, this may seem a bit complicated if a man who is burdened with providing good roads and stable electricity for the entire country is being asked to be supervising the digging of boreholes and construction of Primary Health Care centres. But in responding to this attack, the spokespersons for the National Assembly advised Mr. Fashola to wake up to his responsibility by taking charge of the Primary Health Care centres which are coordinated by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, a federal government Agency. Though, what the Minister was alluding to was the fact that mundane and “petty” projects like boreholes and Primary  health Care centres are the responsibilities of both the local and state governments, the assemblymen saw it differently because according to them “such projects/sectors are on the concurrent list and therefore deserve massive national attention”.

    The interesting part of this power show is that while Fashola and the lawmakers were skirmishing over the PHCs, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who understands the significance of rural mobilization and grassroots inclusivism, was busy constructing and renovating 35 PHCs across the state. From Sura in Lagos Island to Ikotun in Ikotun Local Government  to Kpakpa Uku in Agege and Ajido in Badagry, the PHCs are being given a facelift so that they can fit into the vision of the MDGs which the Governor has adopted as a mantra for modernizing institutions, structures and monuments in Lagos State.

    Prior to this time, most of the PHCs’ facilities were in various state of disrepair with equipment and infrastructure being either absent or obsolete. Even the referral system was almost non-existent. The goal of the National HEALTH Policy (1987) was to bring about a comprehensive health care system, based on primary health care that is promotive, protective, preventive, restorative and rehabilitative to all citizens within the available resources so that individuals and communities are assured of productivity, social well-being and enjoyment of living.

    In implementing this policy of standardization, the government strategically and meticulously selected some of the PHCs for the first phase of the renovation programme. These are the names of the PHCs:

     

    Sura (Lagos Island)

    Agarawu (Lagos Island)

    Alausa (Ikeja)

    Ejire (Itire-Ikate)

    Oba Salami (Yaba)

    Ojodu

    Onigbongbo

    Oshodi

    Seme (Badagry)

    Pota (Badagry)

    Ajido (Badagry)

    Badore (Eti-Osa)

    Mascara (Agboyi Ketu)

    Isheri (Ikosi-Isheri)

    Ajibulu (Oshodi/Isolo)

    Epe (Epe LGA)

    Otta-Ikosi (Ikosi Ejinirn)

    Aboru (Agbado/Oke Odio)

    Mushin (Mushin)

    Mile 2 (Amuwo Odofin)

    Ikotun (Igando/Ikotun)

    Isheri-Olofin (Egbe/Idimu)

    Akere (Ajeromi/Ifelodun)

    Sari (Ajeromi/Ifelodun)

    Kola (Ojokoro)

    Amikanle (Agbado/Oke-Odo)

    Otto (Lagos Mainland)

    Otumara (Mainland)

    Oriokuta (Ikorodu)

    Igbo Olomi (Ikorodu)

    Kpakpa Uku (Agege)

    Imota (Imota)

    Oke Eletu (Ijede)

    Meiran (Agabdo/Oke Odo)

    Ijegun (New construction)

    Ajido (New construction)

     

    To ensure that the several millions earmarked for the projects did not go down the drain, the Governor set up a high-powered monitoring team headed by his Special Adviser on Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga to supervise the projects with technical and professional in-put from the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, and Primary Health Care Board. The synergy between the government and the project consultants has been so effective and productive with almost all the construction and renovation work reaching completion stage in record time of three to four months,

    The objective of engineering an integrative interaction with the grassroots all over Lagos State is to underscore the importance of citizens’ right to better health and emphasise the social justice components of the Alma-Ata Declaration. The PHC values to achieve health for all require health systems that “put people at the centre of health care”. What people consider desirable ways of living as individuals and what they expect for their societies i.e. what people value – constitute important parameters for governing the health sector. By upgrading and giving facelift to some of these PHCs facilities, the Lagos State Government is also aligning itself with some of the MDGs which demand that nations should achieve the health for all target. This challenge requires that health systems respond to the challenges of a changing world and growing expectations for better performance.

    While not subscribing to the imperialistic posturing of the National Assembly on the budget saga, I am of the firm opinion that the National Assembly interventionist role of inserting PHCs in the budget of the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, was commendable in view of the lamentable conditions of most o-f the PHCs. In Nigeria today, the approach of the Lagos State government to governance is pragmatic, inclusive, strategic and inspiring. I am so sure that Lagos State may not have a single PHC on Fashola’s list because as a pro-active government, Lagos State Government has already taken care of all its PHCs without waiting for any form of handout or bail-out from the National Assembly or Fashola himself. A self-respecting government does not subject itself to ridicule and disrespute by always carrying beggar’s bowl to the federal government for miniscule projects as the PHCs. The 35 PHCs that have undergone facelift are said to be those in the First Phase while there are still about 42 more in the Second Phase.

    Like one of the spokespersons for the National Assembly stated, users of the PHCs are Nigerians who deserve good health and prompt medical attention in very conducive and comfortable environment. We should not forget that these are the same people politicians visit during campaign to solicit for their votes and support. In the heat of campaigns, politicians crisscross places like Kpakpa Uku, Ajido, Mascara, Apete, Bere, Oje, Orogun, Shasha, Odo Eran, Odo Alagbafo, etc.  they make promises, enter into unwritten covenant and understanding with the people and after securing victory at the polls, they abandon them and stay put  in the cities working wonders on the city roads, hospitals, schools as if those that are in the remotest parts of the state are not deserving of better treatment and good things of life. The Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode has shown that both the rural and the “city “ people deserve the best attention since they all pay their tax.

     

  • ‘Make PHCs more functional’

    The Federal Government has been urged to make Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the country more functional.

    The Executive Director of Westfield Development Initiatives (WDI), Mrs. Omobola Lana, stated this at a medical outreach in commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day, at the Olugbede Market Car Park in Egbeda, Alimosho Local Government Development Area. It targeted 500 families.

    According to Mrs. Lana, the health outreach which is in its fourth year, has revealed that people are suffering in silence but can’t readily access healthcare services.

    She said: “It is amazing that people as early as 6:00am will troop out to come and pick numbers, so as to be attended to. They leave their trades and other engagements just to access simple routine checks like Blood Pressure (Bp) monitoring, body weight and BMI checks, hypertension and diabetic screenings, malaria tests, HIV/AIDS testing, and for pharmacy service for free drugs.

    “From my interaction with the participants, I realised that most PHCs are not located within their reach,   drugs are not available or affordable, likewise poor human resources to man those places. Here expectant mothers, nursing mothers and their children were attended to and men given Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs), and also given to men for their families. It is so embarrassing to know that the largest local government area that has the largest number of adults that can vote does not have qualitative primary healthcare.”

    Mrs. Lana urged all levels of government to re-jig activities at the PHCs. “The world is always tending to preventive medicine instead of curative medicine. That is why medical and para-medical teams from the local government and a volunteer from Locke International Consultancy joined hand with Westfield Development Initiatives to do this.

    “Malaria for example is preventable and treatable and WDI by this outreach aims to put more LLINs in homes, communicate the message of prevention and appropriate treatment seeking behaviour, and hopefully improve on preventive practices and reduce incidences of malaria in Alimoso. WDI seeks to improve the quality of life of Nigerians by eliminating conditions and diseases, such as malaria that hamper economy advancement through consultations and counseling service, and health education,” said Mrs. Lana.

  • ‘80% of maternal deaths caused by unhygienic deliveries’

    ‘80% of maternal deaths caused by unhygienic deliveries’

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says 80 per cent of maternal deaths are caused by unhygienic delivery practices at Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) nationwide.

    Mr Bioye Ogunjobi, the UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist, made the disclosure at the National Stakeholders’ Workshop on Draft Hygiene Promotion Strategy and Guidelines in Abuja.

    According to him, effective provision of WASH facilities will go a long way to promote safe health care.

    He explained that in Nigeria, many PHCs do not adhere to minimum WASH standards to provide adequate and safe levels of health care.

    He added that “reports say 80 per cent of maternal deaths are caused by unhygienic delivery practices in PHCs across the country.

    “However, for PHCs to work well, they must have good source to water, safe excreta disposal, drainage, hospital waste and hygiene promotion facilities.’’

    The WASH specialist said it was worthy to note that inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities were known to cause 10 out of 100 hospitalisations in Nigeria.

    He stressed the need for stakeholders to see access to WASH as a human right, saying “this pays a vital role in attaining universal health coverage.’’

    Ogunjobi said it was saddening to see that there were no specific policies on hygiene promotion in PHCs as it were.

    He said if healthcare facilities were overcrowded, lacked toilets, access to water, patients and health workers may be exposed to danger.

    Mr Job Ominyi, a WASH Officer with UNICEF, also said Nigeria needed to have a hygiene promotion strategy, saying access to water and sanitation was central to development.

    He said that with effective hygiene promotion safety, 50 per cent transmission of water and excreta related diseases would be reduced to the barest minimum.

    Ominyi said the Fund was carrying out a research on Menstrual Hygiene Management to ascertain the level of awareness on myths and practices.

    This, Ominyi said, would enable the organisation know how to intervene to reduce negative beliefs and taboos associated with menstruation in some communities.

    He said Nigeria was one of the 14 countries carrying out such research, saying Katsina, Anambra and Ogun were the targeted states.

    He urged Nigerians to create accessible sanitation facilities, privacy, access to water supply and effective waste disposal for menstruating girls.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was jointly organised by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and UNICEF to seek ways to enable Nigeria to have a hygiene promotion strategy.