By Raymond Ken-Mbata
The Federal Government has disbursed ₦249.6 billion to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in three years, representing 77.1 per cent of the total amount released to the fund since its establishment in 2019.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a briefing on the fund’s achievements and ongoing reforms under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Salako, who is the Alternate Chairman of the BHCPF Ministerial Oversight Committee, said the government was also working to expand direct financing to at least 17,600 primary healthcare facilities.
He explained that the fund had so far supported 8,309 primary healthcare centres nationwide, with plans to extend coverage to another 5,212 facilities. He also disclosed that health insurance coverage had been approved for about 90,000 inmates in correctional facilities to improve their access to essential medical services.
Salako said national health insurance enrolment had increased from about 16.2 million people in 2023 to 23.06 million by the third quarter of 2026. He added that the fund had supported healthcare interventions for 96,068 women and babies, including emergency caesarean sections and other maternal and newborn care services.
On emergency medical services, the minister reported that 168,571 ambulance service episodes had been recorded since 2023, while rural emergency transport services had been established in 171 of the 172 local government areas covered under the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative. He also disclosed that 78,054 frontline health workers had been trained as part of the government’s target of retraining 120,000 personnel.
Looking ahead, Salako said the government was working with the National Assembly to increase the BHCPF’s statutory allocation from one to two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. He urged state governments to fulfil their counterpart funding obligations and strengthen accountability, stressing that the ultimate measure of the fund’s success would be improved access to affordable and quality healthcare, particularly for vulnerable Nigerians.
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