NPHCDA gulps 64% of health funds – Prof. Adewole

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has disclosed that 64 percent of funds in the health sector go to National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

Speaking during the launch of Technical Support Programme (TSP) for the NPHCDA, the Minister said that it was crucial to focus on the primary health care sub-sector, following the challenges of the country.

“We need to turn things around to focus on primary health care where our people go to and that is the facility closest to our people.

“So investing in PHC is the right way to go. Over the last two years, we have changed the funding structure and the ED will testify to the fact that the agency is gulping the largest chunk of our allocation.

“When we started, it was from 18 percent and the last continue to move to 64 percent. So the ED, you are the prime centre of attraction and I pray that you continue to deliver.”

While challenging states primary healthcare agencies to take advantage of the TSP to get needed support that would enhance the delivery of healthcare services to their people, Adewole called it a “structured and more responsive platform” for technical support to end years of the agency’s inability to effectively deliver support to states.

The TSP signals continuing shift of government to invest in primary health care as a “prime centre of our attention”, away from teaching hospitals at the start of the administration.

“We will be wasting our time and energy if we decide to go that route. We have done that already and we have not really achieved the desired result, and so we have to turn things around and focus of primary health care,” Adewole said.

On his part, the NPHCDA Executive Director, Dr. Faisal Mohammad, in his remarks, said that poor coordination of technical assistance healthcare delivery informed the concept of the programme.

He was hopeful that it will facilitate the effective delivery of technical support services to State Primary Health Care Boards (SPHCBs).

Also, an official of the Bill and Medlinda Gates Foundation, Jenny Segueira, also tasked government to improve its tracking mechanism in the implementation of PHC programmes.

Quote:
“When we started, it was from 18 percent and the last continue to move to 64 percent. So the ED, you are the prime centre of attraction and I pray that you continue to deliver.” – Prof. Adewole