Stakeholders have called for increase of the money allocated for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund from one per cent to five per cent to achieve the universal health coverage.
The stakeholders said this on at a community Townhall forum organised by the Nigeria Health Watch in partnership with the Society for Family Health at the Kogo Primary Healthcare Centre in Bwari Area Council to commemorate the 2022 Universal Health Coverage Day with the theme ‘Build the World We Want: A Healthy Future for All.’
Speaking with our correspondent, the Acting Director, Primary Health Care, Bwari Area Council, Dr Deborah Joshua, said there was a need for an increase for fund to provide access to healthcare for more people.
“The BHCPF has been doing a lot in making the services available to the populace. But, if we have more funds committed to it from one per cent to five per cent, this will make it possible for more facilities to provide health care services to people and it is easy to access healthcare, they won’t have to travel miles to access basic health.
“An increment in the fund will go a long way to improve the access to health and health for all universal health coverage,” she said.
The chief of Kogo community, Samuel Gimba, said “my people have benefitted from the BHCPF and people come for free treatment and more people are becoming aware of the importance of coming to the health centre.
“However, we are appealing to the Federal Government to put in more funds for the BHCPF so that more people can benefit from it.”
On his part, the Policy and Advocacy Manager, NHW, Aloysius Ugwu, said UHC means everyone has access to quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.
