Sen. Ibrahim Oloriegbe, Chairman,
Senate Committee on Health has said there is no plan to stop the Basic
Healthcare Provision Fund as rumoured by some stakeholders in the sector.
Oloriegbe gave the assurance when
he co-chaired a panel on, ‘’Innovative Financing for Non-Communicable Diseases
in Nigeria- Setting Up of Catastrophic Health Fund’’ at the ongoing 3rd Annual
Legislative Summit on Health in Abuja.
“ The executive proposal for 2020
budget has N44.5 billion for Basic Healthcare Provision Fund but our proposal
to Committee on Appropriation is to make it N55 billion.
“For emphasis sake, we are not
scraping and we are not stopping the fund,’’ he said.
He explained that the committee
members had to consult with the stakeholders and the two health ministers on
the grey areas to see that the guideline did not contravene the law.
“The guideline cannot contravene
the law of the land and we are still waiting for reviewed guideline.
“What we are doing is to see that
Basic Health Provision Fund work better and our function is to correct any
flaw.
“I am encouraging you to get the
law and the guideline online and read them.
“For instance, the five per cent
we are talking about emergency, what did the law say? Section 11 and Sub
Section 5 says five per cent emergency shall be spent by a committee set up by
the National Council.
“But the guideline says that
money will be in the Department of Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of
Health,’’ he added.
He said that N27.5 billion had
been approved for disbursement and the money was still in the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN)
“Once we have the draft, we will
call National Council, that is what the law says. This is our position on Basic
Healthcare Provision Fund.
“ National Assembly didn’t stop
it and we want it to be efficient, effective and in line with the law,’’ he
said.
He explained further that the
Federal Government provision for healthcare was supposed to be the tertiary
care, adding that most of the money was in the recurrent budget.
“The money for recurrent –
payment of salaries for staff of the teaching hospitals in the country, and we
have 54 of them, and 10 specialised hospitals in the country,’’ he said.
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