By Asmau Ahmad
Experts have called on the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health to utilise the N126 billion allocated for COVID-19 in the health budget judiciously, to build a resilient health system in the country.
They made the call in Abuja, at the end of a two-day strategic advocacy retreat for the media organised by the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN).
The federal government revised the 2020 budget in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
A fiscal stimulus package in the form of COVID-19 intervention fund of N500 billion (1.4 billion dollars) was included in the revised 2020 budget.
This was to channel resources to additional health related recurrent and capital spending and other non health interventions supporting critical sectors of the economy.
A former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Henry Ewunonu, highlighted some of the problems in the health sector, noting that the strategies for accountability encompassed planning mechanisms, strong and transparent monitoring.
He said other included supervision systems and a systematic reporting at all levels of the healthcare system in the country.
Dr Ewunonu said the media should be empowered and engaged as instruments for ensuring external accountability at all levels of implementation.
He called on the media to hold government accountable and monitor the usage of the revised budget fund at the federal, state and local levels, “which should be conducted regularly by the federal ministry of health to ensure equity in healthcare provision.”
On his part, a former member of the House of Representatives, Mohammad Usman, said it was unfortunate that the federal government failed to revive the 10,000 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the country in line with its promise four years ago.
He said the federal government had been able to revitalise up to 3,000 in four years after it made the promise.
Usman noted that children under the age of five died from preventable causes, adding that most of the children, especially those in rural areas were usually left out in the country’s vaccine immunisation exercise.
“Now that we are faced with the COVID-19, not only in Nigeria but the whole world, we need to look inward and put the necessary things in place to prevent disasters in the future pandemic outbreak. “As it stands today, Nigeria is not prepared and has never been prepared for any health eventuality,” he noted.
Usman also called for increase and timely implementation of health budgets, adding that for Nigeria to actualise its plans of attaining the Universal Health Coverage, (UHC), prioritising health must be top on its agenda.
Earlier, Dr Aminu Magashi, Coordinato of the AHBN, emphasised the need to ensure that ambulance services were available across the country for emergency use.
He also called for transparency and accountability of the COVID-19 finances in the country, adding that he was looking forward to a country where health services were assured.
“I look forward to a Nigeria where health services are assured, and where ambulance services can reach people in their homes. We cannot achieve this without the cooperation of media and collaborative effort of all Nigerians,” Dr Magashi added.
