Kaduna State government has been urged to reverse the cut in the proposed 2022 health Budget presented before the State house of Assembly to ensure that more funds are available to address the healthcare challenges in the State.
Co-Chair, Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM), Mallam Mustapha Jumare, made this call during a presentation titled, ‘Assessment of Kaduna State’s 2022 proposed health budget at a two-day reflection meeting with stakeholders, Traditional rulers, Civil Society(CSOs) and health Sector Partners supported by Partnership To Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL).
Mallam Jumare noted that with the total budget size being reduced in 2022 by 5.27%, all the components of the health sector budget were equally reduced.
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According to him, The State health budget was reduced from ₦39.34 billion in the approved 2021
budget to ₦35.13 billion in the proposed 2022 budget. This also shows a cut of about 10.69%
“The personnel health recurrent was reduced by 3.37%, the overhead health
recurrent was decreased by 27.94%, and the total health recurrent budget was reduced by
5.64%.
“The health capital budget was reduced from ₦26 billion in the 2021 approved budget to ₦22 billion in the proposed 2022 budget. In essence, this is a 13.23% reduction.
“Therefore, the overall health budget was reduced by 10.69%. Despite this reduction, the
State maintained a 15% total budget allocation to the health sector in line with the 2001”, he said.
Speaking on the issue of Family Planning(FP) and Routine Immunization(RI) in the State, he explained there is a need to sustain a culture of dedicated budget lines for Family Planning and Routine Immunization for transparency and accountability.
He further said that there is a need for a stakeholder meeting by the government with the interested
individuals and groups to ascertain how much is going to RI and FP in integrated health
programmes identified in the proposed 2022 budget.
“There is a need to ensure timely releases of funds for various health budget lines and provide adequate funds for routine immunization, family planning, and primary health care under one roof programmes and activities”. He noted.
Speaking earlier, Team Lead, partnership To Engage, Reform and Learn( PERL) Mr, Abel Adejor said the meeting was a reflection meeting to see how the Basic Health Care Provision Fund(BHCPF) disbursed to Primary Health facilities in the State for service delivery and how is it been utilized.
He disclosed that over 239 PHCs have accessed Funds, and there is a need for KADMAM and other Accountability Mechanism to be tracking the utilization of the funds.
“To share the strategies for tracking the 2021 approved health sector budget and observations to influence the 2022 budget Process to state House of Assembly, To facilitate experience sharing on the key findings on tracked utilization of Basic Health Care Provision Fund(BHCPF) in the Primary Health Centers(PHCs) across the State,
Generate next steps and strategies for continues tracking to present advocacy ASK Government, and to ascertain the disbursement and utilization of BHCPF implementation status and Contributory Health uptake.”
