Lagos State is one of the most populated cities in Nigeria, meaning that the governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu must invest more, attract private capital, prioritise and declare emergency in the sector, critical observers in the health sector have said.
Statistics from the Healthcare Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA, shows that in Lagos, as a mega city of more than 23 million people there are 26 registered General Hospitals, 256 public healthcare centers, 2, 886 private hospitals or specialist clinics and laboratories or diagnostic centers in addition to an estimated 160 tradomedical centers.
“The expectation from Sanwo-Olu is to look at the efficiency of Lagos State health sector from the lower level,” Doyin Odubanjo, chairman, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.
The Abuja Declaration states that 15 per cent of the budget is to be allocated to health, but Lagos State, in the 2018 budget allocated about 8.6 per cent to health, says Ayo Adebusoye, co-chairman, and Lagos State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal & New Born Child Health (LASAM).
“I am urging the new governor to prioritise health budget releases; it is not useful that we are having billions on papers in the budget if we don’t access the fund. The maternal mortality rate in Lagos state is unacceptably high. This budget is about life and death,” Adebusoye, said.
However, even with the high number of the health facilities in Lagos state, problems of crowded emergency wards, strikes by tertiary hospital, sharing room in hospital and some hospitals have become elevated mortuaries as health practitioners’ work with limited facilities and funding, while the poor die in these hospitals every day.
Odubanjo of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, explained that it is necessary for the governor to know what they need at the primary healthcare centres, which is closer to the people.
“So we need to look at state health system and strengthen it in general, which involves human and material resources management in terms of communication, health financing and not just the teaching hospitals alone,” he said.
He said the governor must quickly address professionals’ migration and strike as it worsens what is already on ground. “There have been no serious moves on addressing that,” he added.
Meanwhile the Lagos State Health Scheme was signed into Law in May 2015, became necessary due to the State’s population and the pressing need to ensure all and sundry are captured in the State’s health care system.
The essence of this scheme is to ensure every citizen has access to equitable healthcare service, thereby contributing to the improvement of health conditions of Lagosians. According to Jide Idris the State Commissioner for Health, the scheme takes care of a family 6 with a total of N40, 000 (Forty Thousand Naira).
Idris further added that gradual contribution through health insurance will provide sufficient financial protection so that no household is overburdened or impoverished in the process of seeking health care.
Lagos state on the quality of healthcare provided to their citizens. Many investors are interested in the state’s healthcare sector.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
