N60bn Health Fund Missing From 2016 Budget – NMA

The Nigerian Medical Association said N60 billion
is missing from the 2016 budget
–NMA president asked the National Assembly to
revise and review the allocation to the health
ministry The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has expressed shock that N60 billion, equivalent of 1% of consolidated revenue guaranteed by the National Health Act to
fund basic health is missing from the 2016 budget, Daily Trust reports.
In a statement on Friday, January 29, president of
the NMA, Dr Kayode Obembe said President
Muhammadu Buhari’s N6.08 trillion budget only
provides N1, 448 per capita health spending, lower
than the N1, 546 per capita spending in 2015,
compared with a recommendation of N6, 908 by the
World Health Organisation.
Obembe stated that it was a sharp departure from
the prescribed 15% of the national budget for health
made in 2001 in a meeting of African Heads of
States and Government which Nigeria hosted in
Abuja. He noted that the 3.65% allocation for health in the
2016 budget would “ never encourage the
advancement of universal health coverage which is
the only panacea towards improving availability,
access, quality and efficiency of the health services
to reduce the disparaging health indices which
continue to malign the image of our country in the
comity of nations .”
According to him, Tanzania, Rwanda, Swaziland,
Ethiopia, Malawi and Central African Republic have
all marked up to 15% of their budget for health,
according to WHO figures.
The NMA therefore, called on the National Assembly
to “ urgently review and revise the paltry allocation
of N221.7 billion to the health ministry in the 2016
Appropriation Bill .”
“ It is on this premise that we call on the National
Assembly as the only organ that could mitigate this
looming disaster in the healthcare delivery sector in
2016 at this juncture, to look dispassionately
without any partisan sentiments at what should be
done to substantially increase the allocation to the
health ministry in order to deliver better healthcare
to the Nigerian people,” said Obembe.
President Buhari had presented a N6.08 trillion
budget before a joint session of National Assembly in
December 2015. 221.7bn has been allocated to the
health sector.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had described
the budget as a big fraud and executive conspiracy
tailored towards mortgaging the future of the
nation.