• says 2017 budget has zero allocation for capital projects

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The poor state of the State House Medical Center has again made news with the Presidency revealing the exact amout released to the center from 2015 to date.

The Deputy Director (Information) in the State House, Attah Esa, in a statement said, contrary to recent media reports that the State House Medical Centre had received N11.01 billion  as appropriation for the period 2015-2017, it has only received N1.195 billion out of the total appropriation ofN3.406 billion, representing only 33 per cent.

The poor state of State House Medical Center, has in the last three weeks been in the news for the wrong reason.

The wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, had last week lamented the lack of drugs and equipment at the State House Medical Centre, insisting that the management must explain the use of funds allocated to the medical facility.

The First Lady’s outburst came a week after her daughter, Zahra, equally called out the State House Permanent Secretary, Mr. Jalal Arabi, on social media, asking him to account for the N3 billion.

Mrs. Buhari who had called out  the State House Medical Center, Chief Medical Director, Dr. Hussain Munir, at an event, described Nigeria’s health sector as very poor, she was furious that she could not get treatment at the Sate House Clinic few weeks ago when she fell sick because the x-ray machine was not working despite the huge funds allocated to the clinic.

According to her, she refused to travel abroad for the treatment and had to make do with a foreign-owned hospital in Abuja and wondered what the fate of the ordinary Nigerian who falls sick would be in such circumstances.

Mrs. Buhari also queried why the management of the clinic would be constructing new projects when medical items as ordinary as syringes are not available for patients at the facility.

The Permanent Secretary, had in a bid to defend himself disclosed that plans were on the way to commercialize the center.

He had said the  State House Medical Centre (SHMC), which currently offers free medical services to patients, will be repositioned to offer qualitative and efficient services.

The centre provides medical services to the President, Vice-President and their families, aides, members of staff of the State House and other entitled public servants.

It is also a training facility for house officers and other medical personnel.

The statement released Sunday quoted the Permanent Secretary, as saying that contrary to the N11.01 billion claims, “out of the total Capital Appropriation of N2,941,062,044.00 and Recurrent Appropriation of N465,935,358.00 for the period under reference, only the sum of N969,681,821.53 (representing 32.97%) for Capital and N225,575,200.60 (representing 48.41%) for Recurrent was actually released.”

Arabi also said it may interest the public to know that there was zero capital allocation for the Medical Centre in 2017, while out of the N331,730,211.00 being recurrent appropriation for 2017, the actual amount released up to September was N91,370,053.60 (representing only 27.54%).

The Permanent Secretary emphasised that the above figures are verifiable from the Ministries of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

According to him, “during the three-year period under review (indeed two years since no capital allocation for 2017), and despite the shortfalls between budgetary provisions and actual releases, the Medical Centre continued to provide free services to the over 10,000 registered patients annually. In addition, the Centre has continued to execute on-going projects.”

Arabi, while giving more insight into the scope of the Medical Centre’s clientele,  stressed that apart from the Presidency, other beneficiaries of the free services include political appointees, the military, para-military, other security agencies, members of the National Assembly, and the general public.

The Permanent Secretary said, “Considering the unrestricted patronage base and free services of the State House Medical Centre, coupled with the funding hiccups and periodic receipts, it may not be far-fetched to notice gaps between demand and supply of medical equipment and consumables at certain stages of the budget circle.”