Sanwo-olu says gain, aspiration for healthcare delivery in Chatham House lecture
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos state, says his administration has recorded some gains in healthcare service delivery. The governor spoke at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, on the theme, “Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria: Optimizing Institutional Opportunities and Partnerships for Success.”
According to him, achieving UHC requires that “developing countries must first focus on offering their residents a basic minimum set of healthcare services, provided free at the point of care using subsidy, controlled premiums or at a pre-set tariff system, within government-regulated facilities either public or affiliated private.”
He said Lagos state on his watch is upgrading existing primary and secondary health facilities and building new ones.
Sanwo-Olu said his administration is encouraging private sector participation in healthcare service delivery by setting up the Office of Public Private Partnerships (OPPPs) and IBILE Holdings, a private company owned by Lagos State for the purpose of engaging with the private sector.
“We believe in health insurance as a tool that we can leverage to quickly cover ground in our quest for UHC and so we have thrown the full weight of our support behind the newly established National Health Insurance Act, and mandated our Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) to domesticate and enrol residents of Lagos into the Lagos State Social Health Insurance Scheme.
“We are leveraging partnerships with Global organisations like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Global Fund amongst others to explore innovative ways to strengthen our primary health system. In fact, I believe that such organisations’ decisions to directly fund a sub-national like Lagos State is a testament to the clarity of our vision and our drive to achieve results,” he said.
“We have commenced two pilot projects: The Lagos State Oncology Centre and the Omotunde Ajoke Cole Smart Hospital. The success of these projects will mark a new dawn in our health system, where the best of the public and private sectors come together to provide world-class affordable healthcare.”
