Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has urged the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to lead the advocacy for the importance of health insurance schemes in Nigeria to enable citizens have access to good healthcare.
Governor Sanwo-Olu made the call on Tuesday during a courtesy visit by the NMA leadership, led by the President, Prof. Bala Mohammed Audu, held at the Office of the Deputy Governor, Alausa, Ikeja, saying that the move would equally promote a healthier population through increased insurance coverage.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, said there was a need to find a way to explain to the people that a health insurance scheme was important.
According to him, every nation or state in the world must take the health of its citizens paramount and seriously because people find it difficult to fund their health on their own.
“As people find it difficult to fund their health on their own, as such, every nation or state in the world must take the health of its citizens paramount and seriously,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu noted that the Lagos State government recognizes the crucial role of health insurance in catering for the healthcare needs of the state’s rapidly growing population, saying that this was why health insurance was a top priority in the state.
“Africa with a growing population, what type of population are we going to produce? We believe that our children must be healthy and they must be smart enough to compete anywhere in the world,” the governor said.
The governor, while speaking on the number of private hospitals in Lagos, compared to the number of general Hospitals, stated that there was a need for the association to make sure that private hospitals were also at the level where people’s health can be well maintained and managed properly with the help of insurance schemes.
He reiterated that the Governor Sanwo-Olu was about to establish the University of Medicine and Allied Science, to increase the number of medical doctors the state produces, from one hundred and fifty to about a thousand and more.
“We are trying to increase our Primary Health Centres so that we can treat people better under our Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme. As part of our health insurance, we include more private hospitals to join the scheme and I think that is what we need to push to every part of the country so that people can have access to health insurance,” Governor Sanwo-Olu concluded.
The NMA president, Prof. Audu, earlier in his address, said the association was committed to partnering with the Lagos State government to achieve universal health coverage and international best practices in healthcare.
While acknowledging Sanwo-Olu’s administration achievements in healthcare, he noted that its impact on the llera Eko programme, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), and during the COVID-19 pandemic was commendable.
On the responsibilities of the association, Prof. Audu noted that the association was dedicated to advocating for facility regulation, universal applicability of standards of care, and welfare for healthcare professionals.
The NMA president, therefore, requested that Governor Sanwo-Olu should champion the advocacies to the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and Mr. President, just as he also solicited support for the association’s National Secretariat building project and requested welfare packages for doctors in Lagos State, including implementation of the reviewed CONMESS, non-taxable call duty allowance, housing/car loan, and provision of a bus.
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