The Federal Government on Tuesday revealed that 14 states in federation are yet to show interest in the Basic Care Health Fund out of the 36 states in the country.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who made this known when he appeared before the lawmakers in Red Chamber, blamed the problem of health in the country on state governments.
States yet to show interest in the Basic Care Health Fund are Ogun, Ondo, Kebbi, Gombe, Jigawa, Borno, Akwa-Ibom, Cross Rivers , Benue, Zamfara, Sokoto.
Adewole said if the state governments invest in primary health, there will be no reason for people to go to tertiary health care, adding: “Based on design, you can only come to Tertiary Health Care through referral from Primary Health Care and Secondary Health Care.
The Minister said: “We can compare it to a building: primary health as the foundation, the secondary as the wall and the tertiary as the roof.
“The problem we have is that the foundation is bad and the wall is weak and we are only concerned about the roof.
“If we invest in the Primary Health Care, a lot of people would not have a cause to go to the Tertiary.
“Your Excellency, I must commend you for approving the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
“It is a game changer.
“We spent two years developing, and over the last two weeks we’ve started to roll out.
“Twenty-two of our states have registered for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
“Our aim is to structure it in a way that money would flow from the Central Bank to the agencies.
“As of today, 14 states are yet to show interest in basic health care provision.”
