The National Economic Council says Nigeria is drifting in the health sector with various dismal statistics in terms of funding gaps and infant mortality among others.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed expressed the council’s position while addressing reporters after the NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He spoke on the presentation on Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Programme by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate.
Leveraging the instrument of decentralized facility financing, the programme will aim to improve the service readiness of 17,000 PHCs and 774 secondary facilities to deliver Universal Primary Healthcare (to be delivered free to beneficiaries).
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The presentation highlighted the options for a renewed compact with states, including, raising more revenues at both federal and sub-national levels as a matter of priority; increasing budget allocations to health at both federal and sub-national levels, and aligning development assistance for health.
The memo recommended better and increased spending for health to ensure more accountability, greater alignment and less fragmentation. This is premised on the fact that while Nigeria’s health sector currently benefits from substantial international assistance, because there is no systematic operational coordination, there’s a sense that potential synergies and complementarities are not being realized.
He said the council resolved that all the governors sign a compact agreement in terms of service compact to reiterate determination to approach the health sector with required impetus, attention and budgeting that it deserved as the World Health Organisation visited the country on December 15.
On how the government would change the narrative in the health amid massive brain drain, he said the government had hinted on the possibility of opening up facilities training health workers currently being hindered by limited quota and problem of accreditation.
