The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said the adjustments made to the ministry’s budget by the National Assembly had affected its capacity to respond to emergencies.

He said that the adjustment of the Appropriation Bill by the National Assembly constituted a major hindrance to the proper implementation of the 2012 Budget.

The minister made the remark after the presentation of the budget performance of his ministry to President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House in Abuja.

Chukwu explained that the reduction of the headquarters capital project from N19 billion to N14.57 billion affected responses to emergencies from terror attacks and natural and man-made disasters

“The ministry proposed N582 million for the control of Lassa fever, cholera, measles and other disasters but the National Assembly appropriated N78 million.

“Based on our projection, we should be able to respond to any major disaster at any time.

“When we had the petrol tanker disaster, we should have enough money to supply materials, but unfortunately that’s not the situation of things,’’ he said.

The minister said the budget cut also affected response to Port Health Services, including Yellow Fever control, issuance of yellow card and immunisation of travellers in and out of the country.

He said the budget proposal for the item was N88 million but was reduced to N44 million.

Chukwu said the reduction had made it impossible for the ministry to effect its decision to centralise the issuance of tamper proof yellow cards for travellers.

He said to avoid the embarrassment of deportation due to possession of fake yellow cards, the ministry proposed the printing of yellow cards with security features.

Chukwu said they could not implement that because the cost of printing by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company was more than what they had in the budget.

The minister reiterated the resolve of the Federal Government to complete all ongoing constituency projects before embarking on the new ones.

He said there had been pressure from the National Assembly to introduce new constituency projects for new legislators.

“If you go through the records, you will find that there are a lot of constituency projects that are yet to be completed and yet nobody is talking about them.

“This is because the former representatives are no more there. The new people insist they should have projects to show that they are doing something.

“We are still discussing. Mr President said we should forget new constituency projects so that we can complete ongoing ones,’’ he said.

Chukwu added that implementation of new constituency projects, captured in the 2012 budget, had been slow because of the procurement process.

He said the projects, which involved construction needed, to pass through due process before the contracts were awarded.

“For any project that involves construction, if you go through the Procurement Act, you first have to have a design which takes between 12 months and 14 months.