The Honourable Minister of Health, Dr. Mohammed Ali Pate has expressed satisfaction over improved utilisation of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in the country.
Dr. Pate during the 9th Basic Health Care Provision Fund Ministerial Oversight Committee Meeting (MOC), held on Wednesday December 18th, in Abuja, made it clear that the more fund is being utilised for provision of basic health services for Nigerians.
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“We call on all Nigerians to look into the utilisation of the fund and flag it, so that basic health care services can reach the poorest of the poor.
“We have seen more than 10 million BHCPF funded facilities and more than 2.6 billion Nigerians have been impacted over the last one year and we have seen improved funding.
“So the health is on the move. The initiative of Mr. President (President Tinubu) is working. This is early steps as we go into 2025,” the Minister noted.
Speaking in the same vein to Journalists after the meeting, the Director General, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Kelechi Ohiri that despite challenges, enrolment into health insurance has improved.
“When we came in, in 2023, there were 16.7 million Nigerians who were covered by any form of insurance. As at November (2024), that number stood at 19.2 million and we expect it to increase 20 million within a short time.
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“This is very significant because it represented a target that we thought would take us 4 years to get there. But we are getting there in one year. This is not the hard work of NHIA only, it is the hard work of everybody that has been in the system.
“What we are saying is that this time, more Nigerians have health insurance, which is very important, particularly given the condition we are and the time we are in.
“Another good news is that with the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, those who can’t pay for health services are being paid by the government. Over the last quarter, that number stood at 2.6 million and we increased that number by two hundred thousand.
He further disclosed that “2. 6 million Nigerians are covered under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund. That means that don’t have to contribute their premiums. The government is paying for them, they can access primary health care services and when those services cannot be handled by the primary health care services, and need referral to secondary level, it is also covered.
On the challenges of health insurance, Dr. Ohiri said that more funding is needed to insure more Nigerians.
“We can do more if we have more resources. The second thing is low awareness. We have a situation where people don’t understand insurance and sometimes, people don’t attitude towards it. We need to make sure there is more awareness, more enlightenment for all Nigerians about the uses insurance.
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The Director General also reflected on the rising cost of health care provision in the country. “The cost of providing health care has gone up; the amount we need to pay for premium has to go up. But we have began to review the tariffs.
“We increased the capitalisation by 60 percent and increased fees for payment by 40 percent in July this year, so that providers will have ore money to take care of people when they come.
You may wish to know that the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) was established under section 11 of the National Health Act as a catalytic funding to improve access to primary health care.
The BHCPF serves to fund aBasic Minimum Package of Health Services (BMPHS), increase the fiscal space for health, strengthen the national health system particularly at primary health care (PHC) level by making provision for routine daily operation cost of PHCs, and ensure access to health care for all, particularly the poor, thus contributing to overall national productivity.
The BHCPF is derived from (a) an annual grant from the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGoN) of not less than one percent (1%) of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF); (b) grants by international donor partners; (c) funds from any other source, inclusive of the private sector.
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The BHCPF is implemented by 3 gateways namely, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) gateway which provides operational cost(Decentralized Facility Financing – DFF) and Human Resource for Health (HRH) for PHCs through the State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) gateway which insures the most vulnerable Nigerians to access the BMPHS through the State Social Health Insurance Agencies(SSHIA) and the National Emergency Medical Treatment (NEMT) gateway which is expected to cater for emergency ambulance services.