State House Clinic Budget Story “Insensitive” – Presidency

The Presidency has reacted to a story that the State House Clinic would get more budgetary allocation than all Federal Government-owned teaching hospitals. The report made yesterday castigated the government for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians who make use of teaching hospitals. Garba Shehu, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Tuesday, in his reaction called the report as “off the mark” and “insensitive.” He said, “This report is not simply off the mark, but one that is insensitive to the government’s effort to improve medical facilities at home in Nigeria. “According to the draft 2016 budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, the budget for the State House Clinic is N3.8b. “Contrary to the published newspaper report, the total for health institutions as given by the Director-General, Budget Office is more than N200 billion. The 17 teaching hospitals have more than 50 percent of that allocation. “Anyone interested can check out the detailed allocations to the teaching hospitals, the Federal Medical Centres and the specialist hospitals owned by the Federal Government. “It is also important to explain that the State House Clinic is not the President, or anyone’s personal clinic, but one which looks after government officials and many others who are not. “The increased spending on government health institutions in the current budget should be seen in the light of the administration’s plan to improve medical facilities at home as a way of discouraging overseas trips in search of treatment by citizens which eat away from our foreign exchange.”