Commissioner for Health Professor Akin Abayomi has asserted that Lagos State will quickly start imposing obligatory medical insurance as the federal government seeks to ease stress on public hospitals and enhance entry to healthcare,
Speaking throughout an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, Abayomi stated the transfer was crucial as rising healthcare prices push extra residents from personal hospitals into the general public well being system, which is already coping with an inflow of sufferers and a scarcity of healthcare employees.
“Now we’re moving into enforcement. So very soon, it’s just like if you have a car. You need three things. You need a licence, you need an MOT, and you need insurance. If you don’t have it, somewhere along the line, someone will enforce it.”
He stated Lagos domesticated the National Health Insurance Authority Act by way of an government order in July 2024, making medical insurance obligatory for individuals dwelling and dealing within the state. “Lagos was quick because of what you just described. Within a year or two, we had domesticated that law in July of 2024. That’s two years ago, in Mr. Governor’s executive order, essentially enforcing compulsory insurance on negotiations.”
Abayomi stated the state is restructuring its medical insurance system. “We’re restructuring. We’re doing a lot of enforcement. We’re doing a lot of public health awareness. We’re doing a lot of educating the public around the need for insurance.”
He stated the federal government desires each resident to have at the very least a fundamental social medical insurance package deal. “So everybody should have at least a social health insurance basic minimum service of package cover. And then in the private sector, we’re incorporating them into that narrative so that if you have private insurance, you at least have the basic minimum package.”
Abayomi defined that the federal government was additionally restructuring the insurance coverage tiers to make the system simpler to function. “And that we’ve now restructured the tiers so that there is a cleaner operation of insurance in the state.”
The commissioner stated the rising stress on Lagos hospitals is linked to the rising price of healthcare. “While the cost of care is going up, the ability to buy that care is relatively stagnant.”
He stated the scenario was pushing residents in the direction of public hospitals and, in some instances, casual healthcare suppliers. “So the public are shifting from the private sector to the public sector and from the public sector to the informal sector, where they can walk into a pharmacist or stop the hawker on the road and tell them, I have a headache or I have a fever, and they get access to medication without going through the orthodox system.”
Abayomi stated the stress on public services had elevated sharply. “In the last six months, our outpatient patronage has doubled in our public health facilities, Lasuthi, Korodu, Lagos Island.”
“I’ve seen thousands of patients a day. Now, you can’t imagine that kind of patronage in a private hospital.”
Abayomi highlighted the dimensions of stress on healthcare employees. “Our doctors and our healthcare professionals are under a lot of stress. You can imagine with the brain drain, with this influx of patients.”
He stated the scarcity of healthcare employees had made the workload significantly tough for these remaining within the system. “You know, if you work from 8 till 12, I don’t know what your time on stage is, but in the medical facility, can you imagine if they asked you to work from 6 in the morning to tomorrow 6 in the morning? It would be crazy.”
“It all boils down to healthcare financing. It boils down to demand financing, the ability to finance the purchase of your care.”
He stated increasing medical insurance would convey more cash into the healthcare system. “Health insurance does many things. It reduces the risk. It causes a cross-subsidy and social solidarity. It takes a lot of the burden away from government so that the private sector can flourish in a health system.”
He linked the scarcity of well being employees to the broader economics of healthcare and stated bettering residents’ potential to pay for therapy might assist tackle the issue. “Now when that happens, it will start to slow down brain drain because brain drain is an economic narrative.”
“If we fix the demand-side financing, then funds will flow. If the public, if the business people in Lagos suddenly see that Lagotians have purchasing power for health care, they will fix the supply-side.”
The commissioner additionally defended the extent of presidency subsidy in public hospitals, saying the state pays for employees. “The public health service is extremely subsidised. We build the hospitals. We pay 20,000 staff. We’re the biggest ministry in Lagos state government. We repair facilities. We buy equipment. We’re constantly paying for training. We’re paying for administration, overheads, power.”
He stated the state’s public hospitals typically cost lower than half the quantity charged by personal services due to the federal government subsidy. “So they generally charge a range of something less than 50% of what private sector charges. Health is doing actually quite well.”
When requested about funds implementation. We’re above 90 %.”
Abayomi addressed complaints about fee methods, allegations of corruption and studies of sufferers being requested for money earlier than receiving therapy. “We’ve now outsourced the payment gateways to the private sector so that it doesn’t mess up with clinical activities. So we engage payment collectors, and they are in all our facilities, and they collect the due charges that the patients have experienced within the facilities.”
He stated a number of firms function the fee gateways fairly than a single supplier.
“They’re different, yeah, and they’re different pay gateways.”
On the extensively mentioned case involving a lady and her daughter at a Lagos hospital, Abayomi stated. “Whenever we get all the complaints in the Ministry of Health, there’s no complaint in Lagos that doesn’t reach my desk, and we take them all very, very seriously, and we investigate.”
He stated the affected person had arrived in Lagos after receiving therapy in one other state and was initially handled by way of the federal government’s social security nets as a result of she had no cash or household help along with her. “Now she came on her own, no parents, no family, nobody, no money. So our social systems kicked in immediately, because it’s a life-saving situation.”
Abayomi stated the affected person underwent main surgical procedure and obtained additional help when she returned for follow-up therapy. “This young lady had a major life-saving surgical operation. She spent four or five days in hospital, and she was discharged well for follow-up, at cost to state, both federal and Lagos state.”
Abayomi stated the federal government later paid for additional investigations when the affected person returned with one other medical downside.
“The second level of social safety net kicked in, and paid for her investigation so she could have her consultations and have her treatment.”
He stated the ministry’s investigation discovered that the reported request for money occurred in a dialog between the affected person and her mom exterior the hospital, fairly than between hospital officers and the household. “So she went back to her mother and said the pay facilities were not working, and that she should go outside of the hospital to get cash, so that the cash can be used to pay. None of that was a conversation that happened in the hospital. That was between the child and her mother.”
On issues about corruption, poor service and alleged calls for for cash or different gadgets earlier than sufferers obtain care, Abayomi stated a number of companies are liable for monitoring the standard of companies in public hospitals.
“We have many agencies that do the quality assurance of our hospitals. If we get these reports, we go and investigate.”
He stated the state was additionally transferring its basic hospitals to a digital well being info system. “We’re rolling out the smart health information platform for Lagos. So all our general hospitals are going digital. It’s going to curb these kinds of events that people are describing.”
Abayomi stated the digital system would additionally permit sufferers to report issues electronically.
“People can report digitally.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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