The Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole has said Nigeria has about 30,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and if the Ministry of Health, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), alongside wealthy stakeholders among others, can make about 10,000 PHCs functional, the Country would be fairly okay in terms of healthcare.
He stated that of the 30,000 PHCs in Nigeria, the World Bank has revived 1,400, while the European Union signed an agreement to revive 774.
The Minister added that the Department for International Development (DFID), is working on 950 centres, with various State Governments also working on the Primary Healthcare facilities that they have.
He cited Kaduna State, as having made over 250 PHCs functional.
Prof Adewole stated that the Ministry of Health is going round the 36 States of the Federation to document the total number of PHCs in poor states and those that are undergoing reconstruction and renovation, noting that at the end of the documentation process, there would be over 10,000 functional PHCs in Nigeria.
In January 2016, the Federal Government inaugurated a committee to map out all the PHCs across the Country, using available resources and data from all relevant departments.
The committee was also charged with the responsibility of determining the functionality of each PHCs in all political ward, human resources, equipment and service availability. A report is yet to be submitted, as research is still on-going.
Prof Adewole also noted that in 2016, the budget allocation made by the Ministry for the renovation and reconstruction of about 110 PHCs was N19bn with an additional N3.5bn released by the Federal Government for measles, while stating that 2018 budget for the Primary Healthcare Centres is N21bn.
According to him, there has been improvement in the elimination of malaria in the Country, with the sharing of free insecticide treated nets to Nigerians.
“We are being careful that by 2025, Nigeria should be able to say we are at the elimination stage, so that we have five years to mop up, and by 2030, we can join other Countries to say we are done with malaria”.
Prof Adewole called on the Government to improve financing of the Health Sector, stating that the capital budgetary allocation of the Ministry for 2018 is N71.1bn, and is an improvement of 2017’s budget of N55bn.
In August, the Federal Government convened a national summit on Primary Health Care (PHC) to identify, decide and develop consensus and commitment on strategies to urgently revamp PHCs in Nigeria, as well as mobilize the needed resources.
State Governments were advised by the Minister to direct resources towards revamping existing PHCs. The result however is not being felt by the Rural Communities in need of the PHCs.
