The BHCPF MOC Welcomes New Gateways: Calls For State Government And Private Sector Contributions

The 2^nd Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC) meeting was attended by members of the Committee, including stakeholders from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Development Partners and Civil Society.

The participants included the Hon. Minister of Health, Country Representative of  World Health Organization (WHO), Country Directors World Bank (WB) and Result for Development (R4D),  the Executive Director, National Primary Health Development Agency (NPHCDA), the Director General, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Representatives from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP), and key Directors from the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and  MDAs  connected to BHCPF.

The Honorable Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who is the MOC Chairman, in his welcome address said the meeting was crucial to build on the successes of the first MOC meeting.

Dr Ehanire recounted that it was the Joint Committees on Health of the National Assembly that drew attention to the fact that the first Operational Manual of the BHCPF was not totally aligning with the provisions of the National Health Act (2014) that established it. Hence the reason for the suspension of its implementation. He commended the NPHCDA, NHIA, World Bank, the Lafiya Project and the WHO, who played significant roles in putting together the new BHCPF Guideline. He noted that with the Guideline, the BHCPF now has a stronger framework that can deliver a better package of health care services to Nigerians. He also encouraged stakeholders and development partners in the health sector to support the BHCPF initiative.

He commended the FMoH Departments of Public Health, Health Care Services and Family Health particularly for supporting the initiative. He also recognized and welcomed the two new Gateways; Emergency Medical Treatment Committee (EMTC) which was inaugurated between 2018 and 2019 and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

The BHCPF implementation updates, challenges and solutions were extensively discussed at the meeting per the mandate of the Committee. The Minister who led these discussions mentioned that as a follow up to the deliberations of the first MOC meeting in June 2021, the MOC secretariat has facilitated an external audit of BHCPF for the 2020 fiscal year. The MOC is further working closely with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP) and OAGF to monitor all released funds.

The Chairman noted that N35 billion was appropriated for the BHCPF in the 2021 budget from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federal Government and N29.6 billion has so far been released through the Government Integrated Financial Management System. He noted that 50% of the 2018 BHCPF allocation was received and disbursed according to the regulations, while funds allocated for the BHCPF were not received in 2019 and 2020. As such, the MOC Secretariat will follow up for the releases remaining from 2018 and full releases of 2019 and 2020 with the FMFBNP.

Other points of discussion were on the modality for distributing the Fund and mismanagement of funds reported in some States and facilities. The MOC Secretariat thereafter committed to strengthening its monitoring capacity to identify infractions against the BHCPF Guideline and penalize offenders.

During his presentation, Dr Chris Isokpunwu, the MOC Secretary, said that out of the targeted 1.2 million vulnerable Nigerians, only 700,000 have been enrolled into the BHCPF program so far. He noted that the Honorable Minister has approved that the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), support the development of the communication strategy of the BHCPF, with plans underway for the development and launch of the BHCPF website.

Gateways updates:

• NPHCDA reported to have authorized 6,409 out of 9,211 wards to receive the BHCPF fund. 
• NHIS reported to have accredited 7,252 PHCs in 32 States and enrolled 766,103 beneficiaries out of the 1,257,500 lives to be covered, and enrollees have begun accessing care in 15 States.
• National Emergency Medical System and Emergency Ambulance Scheme (NEMSAS) announced the pledge made for the provision of ambulances by Japan Government and 70 by the Global Fund.
• NCDC received N361 million from the BHCPF funds before the Operational Manual was suspended. This included operational and program costs. With these, it deployed the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management Assessment System Software (SORMAS) in three States: Anambra, Cross Rivers, and Kebbi.

Inadequate funding of the BHCPF necessitated a call for private sector contribution. Advocacies to State Governments was proposed, to sensitize them on the need to cooperate and support with funds, to cover targeted population.

There was a strong call to strengthen BHCPF through harmonizing and institutionalizing all efforts put in by the stakeholders.

The Gateways are expected to present progress made in the quarter by the next MOC meeting scheduled for the 11^th of August, 2022.

By Jamila Mohammed-Jantabo | LISDEL-BHCPF