ANAMBRA ASSEMBLY ACCUSES STATE HEALTH CARE DEVPT AGENCY OF FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES
REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE
The Anambra State House of Assembly Committee on Health has expressed worry over the level of irregularities and maladministration in the state Primary Health Care Development Agency.
This is coming as the Committee investigates the activities of the Agency and how it had spent over 800 million naira it received from the National Basic Health Care Fund from 2020 till date.
The Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Carter Ume, made this known during separate oversight meetings held with members of the Agency and other key players at the Committee room of the state House of Assembly.
Dr. Ume said the fact finding meeting with the primary health officers was aimed at ensuring that the people have access quality healthcare services at the grassroots in the state.
He said in line with Governor Chukwuma Soludo led administration’s agenda anchored on prudent management of available resources, the State House of Assembly was willing to to do its best to contribute towards building a liveable city that everyone would be proud of.
Dr. Ume noted that during the interactions, the Committee on Health observed that a lot of protocol, rules and regulations guiding the operations of the health care basic fund were breached and abused by the Agency.
The Health Committee Chairman noted that investigation was still on going as the fact finding exercise was not aimed at sabotaging or witchunting anyone but in the interest of the people of the state.
Two members of the Committee, Dr. Nnamdi Okafor and Dr. Timothy Ifedioramma, sought for clarifications on who authorized the Ward Development Committees to withdraw money and pay into pharmaceutical accounts, which was against the guidelines of the basic fund rules of engagement.
Earlier in a separate interaction, the Head of Essential Drugs and Logistics in the state, Mrs. Chisom Uchem, told the committee members that there was the need for a restructuring of the Agency as most of the responsibilities meant for different personnel were being hijacked and executed by few individuals who most times sidelined her.
The Executive Secretary, Anambra State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Chioma Ezenyimulu, told the Committee that she never authorized the Ward Development Committees to withdraw over Six hundred thousand naira and pay about three hundred thousand into some pharmaceutical accounts for the purpose of drug procurement.
She gave a breakdown of how the 800 million so far received from the Federal Government Basic Health Insurance was spent.
According to Dr. Ezenyimulu, 300 million was distributed to the 332 health facilities across the state, 23 million naira used to engage the services of 60 midwives while 16 million naira was expended on operations of the Agency.
The Executive Secretary said 18 million naira was also spent on Community Health Influencers and Promoters Services, bringing the total expenditure to 357 million naira while a balance of 455 million which is still in the bank would still be used to fund the health facilities.
The Committee however promised to ensure that the primary health centers across the state function optimally through their oversight responsibilities as what was on ground at the various facilities were not measuring up with funds so far provided by both the Federal and Anambra State Governments.
EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU
