Towards affordable health care for vulnerable Lagos residents

As part of efforts aimed at providing inclusive and sustainable health care for Lagosians, General Manager, Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), Mrs. Emmannuella Zamba, recently disclosed that the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has released N750million to assist the vulnerable.

Addressing journalists in Lagos, she identified the vulnerable as persons with disabilities; persons challenged economically, pregnant women, widows, elderly, orphans and persons living with diseases.

She disclosed, “We just got the last tranche of that N750 million, which is N300 million. We are going to roll out into the communities and expand universal health coverage across Lagos.”

Under the “Ilera Eko” scheme, she revealed that over 180, 000 vulnerable and indigent residents of the state have registered. She disclosed that there is a Development of a service charter document to guarantee the delivery of quality healthcare services to “Ilera Eko” enrollees through a partnership with healthcare providers.

To increase the customer base of those served by “Ilera Eko” products and offer current Enrollees more value for their money, she also said the Agency launched its upgraded and new products which are: “Ilera Eko Standard Plan”; “Ilera Eko Standard Plus”; Ilera Eko Telemedicine Services” and “Ilera Eko Diaspora Plan.”

Zamba listed private sponsors such as Bono Energy, Dr. Funmi Alakija Foundation and SustyVibe initiative.

She added that the state is in full support of the Health Insurance Act, adding that all hands are on deck to domesticate the law.

Specifically, she noted that The Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS) is mandatory for all residents of Lagos State, all employees in the public and private sectors, including the self-employed and the unemployed.

She added that the overall goal of the LSHS is to ensure that all residents of Lagos have unhindered access to quality healthcare services in an efficient, sustainable, and equitable manner.

Specifically, Zamba said LSHS comprises three components: The Lagos State Health Plan (LSHP), now rebranded as “Ilera Eko” The Formal Health Plan (FHP) being provided to Lagos State Public Servants and The Lagos State Private Health Plan (LSPHP).

She said other functions of LSHS include, ensuring all residents of the State have financial protection, physical access to effective, and affordable healthcare services; protecting families from the financial hardship of huge medical bills; limiting the rise in the cost of healthcare services; ensuring equitable distribution of healthcare costs across different income groups; maintaining a standard of healthcare delivery services within the scheme; ensuring efficiency in healthcare service delivery; improving and harness private sector participation in the provision of healthcare services.

Zamba listed some achievements of the Agency as the Establishment of “Ekotelemed,” Public Servant Sinking Fund, “Pay Small Small Initiative”; implementation of the National Health Insurance Act of 2022; Commissioning of the five ILERA Eko IBILE; Stakeholders Engagement for Regulations of Health Insurance in Lagos State; Divisional offices to deepen grassroots presence.

She identified other achievements as a State-wide Grassroots sensitisation campaign in collaboration with the Office of Civic Engagement; Equity Fund Town Hall; Beneficiaries meeting in Lagos Island and Badagry Divisions.

Concerning enrolment, she disclosed that since the assumption in the office of Governor Sanwo-Olu till date, the scheme has recorded over a 100 per cent increase in enrolment; from 5,000 lives to 623,183.

With reference to quality monitoring, she noted that the Agency has engaged twenty quality officers who are responsible for effective monitoring of the quality of care rendered under the scheme. She added that five full-time Quality Officers as Divisional officers were also engaged.

In collaboration with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), she also said the Agency carried out the launch of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund to onboard 55,000.