By Joke Adeniyi-Jackson
Kwara State budgetary allocation of 12.5% to the health sector for 2018, ranks it as third in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by, Chairman Governing Council, Oke- Ode Nursing School, Dr. Seyi Adigun during a chat with Pilot Health in Ilorin, Kwara State, over the weekend.
He said with the percentage, Kwara’s budgetary provision for healthcare delivery is higher than the 3.8% allotted to the sector by the Federal Government in this year’s budget.
The medical expert pointed out that with the state’s budget for health, it has almost reached the 15% benchmark by the African Union (AU), decrying the falling trend in Federal Government provision for health.
According to him, the year 2000 African Union declaration urged government at all levels to strife to ensure that 15% of budgetary provision is set aside for healthcare delivery because of the state of healthcare in Africa.
He said: “Kwara State has delivered on key aspect of positive governance to the people. Its budgetary allocation to the health sector has risen to 12.5% while at the Federal level it has declined to 3.8% under President Muhammadu Buhari; this is no doubt a negative trend.
“With this percentage, Kwara ranks third and that is one aspect to show how government is working in the state,” he added.
On the state owned health insurance scheme, KwaraCare, the health insurance expert commended the state government for what he described as ‘pioneering development’.
“The state is showing others the path to the future; navigating the road with boldness. It is a long road but it has started,” he noted
He stated that the domestication of the Community Health Insurance Scheme by the state government gave it robust understanding of the mechanism.
Adigun, who said the challenge is getting the large chunk of population living in hard to reach places to understand the nitty gritty of what the scheme, said government has deployed resources to mitigate the problem.
“With the state health insurance agency government will have the opportunity and the wherewithal to be able to address these issues.”
He however explained that when the KwaraCare becomes fully operational there would be no need for the Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) in the state.
“Everybody rolled in under that platform (CHIS) will be subsumed into the state health insurance, which is more holistic in outlook.
