Kwara govt spends N427 on each Kwaran monthly for healthcare in twenty-four months

By solacebase.com On Jun 23, 2024

Kwara, healthcare, PHC, — Kwara State Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq

By Dare Toba

A SolaceBase budget performance review of Kwara state has shown that the state spent N427 monthly on the health needs of its 2.559 million persons population.

To get the value of what the state spent, SolaceBase deployed the total health budget for the period of 2022 to the first quarter of 2024 and factored the population of the state into it.

The analysis covered a period of 2022 to the first quarter of 2024.

In 2022, only budget performance data for three quarters were available covering a period of January to September.

In the first three months of 2024, Kwara state spent the sum of N4.6 billion on its health ministry, per details on its budget performance report.

In 2023, the expenditure for health needs stood at N15.5 billion on a full-year basis.

In the first three quarters of 2022, N6.5 billion was spent in total by the Kwara State Ministry of Health.

This means that in total, the sum of N26.6 billion was spent by the health ministry between the first three months of 2024 and the third quarter of 2022.

With this period representing 24 months, (2022 (9 months), 2023 (12 months), 2024 (3 months) ), the total N26.6 billion health expenditure in twenty-four months divided by 2.5 million persons said to be the populace of the state would mean that each Kwaran got N10,264 as healthcare expenditure in 24 months.

It would also mean that every month in the twenty-four months under review, N427 was received by every Kwaran as healthcare expenditure, that is the (N10264 gotten in twenty-four months redivided by 24).

According to official statistics on the Kwara state government website, the population of the state is put at 2.559 million persons.

According to information published by the National Bureau of Statistics in its multidimensional poverty index, 75% of households in Kwara do not have access to sanitary facilities.

The time to healthcare in Kwara is put at just 31%.

A SolaceBase report had also revealed the poor state of Kwara State Primary Healthcare Centres. The report noted that these health centres are largely understaffed, poorly equipped and unable to cater for citizens’ needs.

The report noted that health centres across Kwara communities, particularly those in Edu, Moro, Ifelodun and Ilorin West LGAs, revealed that PHCs in the state are bedevilled by infrastructural decay, poor staffing, ill-equipped and underfunded, often denying citizens access to quality basic healthcare.