Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the health sector will get N126bn out of the N500bn initial stimulus fund included in the 2020 budget.
He stated that the government was hopeful that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by governments at all levels in revamping health care facilities would be sustained.
According to a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, the Vice-President spoke on Friday during a webinar tagged ‘Economic Sustainability Beyond COVID-19’ and organised by Emmanuel Chapel.
Osinbajo said, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic globally, the present regime would not relent in its efforts towards improving the country’s health care infrastructure and economy.
This, he said, would be achieved by creating more jobs for millions of Nigerians in different sectors, supporting small businesses, local production and manufacturing, as well as extending the social safety net for the most vulnerable persons in society.
The Vice-Pesident stated that improving health care infrastructure remained a major objective of the present regime.
With the introduction of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which is one per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, Osinbajo noted that, for the first time, the kind of provision made for health care had increased significantly, especially in the period of a global pandemic.
He said, “Out of the N500bn initial stimulus fund that is factored into the current budget, N126bn of it is going into health care.
“We have all noted how states have risen up to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and how resuscitated health care facilities, new isolation centres, new ICUs are coming up. The number of testing centres has also increased. We are hopeful that we will be able to sustain that momentum.”
