Procurement Act cripples health sector- Practitioners

Alleged cumbersomeness of adhering to the provisions of the 2007 Public Procurement Act in contracts awards and executions , is seriously crippling the health sector in the country , lamented some of the practitioners in the sector .

This is as the Chairman , Senate Committee on Primary Health Care and Communicable diseases , Senator Chukwuka Utazi ( PDP Enugu North ), vowed to move for amendments of the Act in form of adherence exemption for the health Sector .

The adverse effects of provisions of the Act , as lamented by the National President of Society of Public Health Professionals of Nigeria ( SPHPN) , Professor MC Azuru at the Senate wing of the  National Assembly on Friday ,  is the yearly none availability of drugs at the various primary health care centres in the country for patients.

Added to this according to the SPHPN President , represented by Dr Tolu Fakeye , is the yearly return of substantial parts of capital budgetary allocations released for the sector into the  national treasury.

Fakeye who made the lamentation during a courtesy visit SPHPN paid on Utazi in collaboration with Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family at Scale Project ( PACFSP) , said in 2018 alone , out of the N21.62billion  released for procurement of drugs and other capital projects, only N13.35 billion was utilized while the balance of N8.27billion was returned to the treasury due to expiration of time line for utilization of such funds .

” The problem has been there for about ten years now since  the Act came into force .

” For instance in 2012, out of the N45billion released as capital allocations to the sector, only N33.68billion was spent while N11.32 billion had to be returned to the treasury .

” From 2009 to 2018 , the story has not changed because the country’s budget cycle did not allow for proper utilization of budgetary allocations to the health sector and even compounded with the cumbersomeness of the procurement processses , provided for by provisions of the 2007 Public Procurement Act “, he said .

He also complained of gross underfunding of the sector by successive governments in the as clearly shown with yearly money appropriated and releases made .

According to him , while the sum of N60.92 billion was earmarked for the sector as total capital allocations, only N45bn was released .

The trend he explained , took worrisome dimension years after as shown with the  N141.62billion capital allocations appropriated for  the sector in 2018 but with meagre cash backing or release of just N21.62billion which represented 15.3% of the entire allocation and out of which only N13.35bn was utilized in strict adherence to the procurement act.

” For better health care service delivery to Nigerians , particularly at the grassroots through the Primary Health Care Centres , both the problems of gross underfunding of the sector and delays on utilization of monies released , must be addressed very urgently by government at all levels “, he stressed .

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