Release health budget,  get $300,000 – FG promises state govts

Prof. Adewole

Any state of the Federation that announces its health budget and releases the funds for implementation in 2017 will be rewarded with a special grant of N135.5 million ($300,000) by the Federal Government.

This incentive was announced by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole at the operationalisation workshop on the ‘Saving One Million Lives Programme for Results (SOML P for R) held recently in Lagos for the South West Zone.

All state governments had received a grant of $1.5 million to boost their maternal and child health care which the Federal government has promised to increase in subsequent years, based on the individual state’s performance and results.

The Minister however warned at the workshop that the SOML P for R grant should not replace the states’ health budgets,  adding that the grant is  to help them play a major  role in bringing about a positive change in the lives of the people through result-oriented delivery of health services, especially in the six focus areas of maternal, newborn and child health such as routine immunisation, polio eradication, elimination of mother to child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV, scaling up access to essential medicines and commodities, malaria control and child nutrition;

“it is not a substitute to your budget,” he told the health commissioners, saying it is rather an addition to the state’s budget.

“In fact, the Federal Government will give and additional $300,000 to any state that publishes and releases its budget for health to encourage the governors to make health care their priorities,”

He pleaded with the commissioners to push their respective governments to make good provision for health care delivery in their budgets and ensure that such budgets are released for implementation.

The minister also pledged his assistance to any commissioner who may be experiencing difficulties in obtaining the cooperation of the state governor in this regard.