Posted by Chinenye on Fri 07th Aug, 2026 - tori.ng
Lagos State has unveiled a major healthcare strategy aimed at expanding access, improving medical quality, and tackling a severe shortage of health workers.
(Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Photo by Guardian Nigerian News)
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday unveiled a new healthcare development roadmap for the state, disclosing that Lagos requires approximately 40,000 doctors to adequately meet the healthcare needs of its expanding population.
The governor revealed that the state currently maintains around 7,000 doctors, while also highlighting shortages across other healthcare professions, including an estimated deficit of 40,000 nurses.
Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Eko Health Convention in Lagos, Sanwo-Olu explained that the next phase of the state's health reform agenda would concentrate on establishing a sustainable system combining expanded access with improved care quality.
He noted that the government was transitioning beyond infrastructure delivery toward creating institutions and systems capable of sustaining quality healthcare for residents over the long term.
The governor articulated his vision by contrasting inadequate healthcare delivery models, explaining that access without corresponding quality merely produces long queues and understocked clinics, while quality without accessibility creates showcase facilities inaccessible to ordinary residents.
He emphasised that Lagos sought neither extreme but rather a system ensuring residents could access quality medical services regardless of location or economic circumstances, distinguishing between simply completing projects and building lasting institutions capable of continued service delivery beyond current leadership.
A significant component of the new roadmap involves expanding digital healthcare through the Lagos Smart Health Information Platform, a health information exchange system designed to enhance patient care through improved data management.
The governor indicated that the platform's first phase had achieved approximately 30 per cent implementation, encompassing general hospitals, teaching hospitals, and more than 300 primary healthcare facilities throughout the state.
He explained that this platform would enable medical records to accompany patients across different facilities, reduce redundant testing, and support more informed healthcare decision-making through enhanced data utilisation.
Sanwo-Olu stated that when medical records travel with patients, clinicians gain comprehensive patient understanding, while aggregated data enables policymakers to understand citywide health patterns, shifting the system from reactive to anticipatory approaches.
He also disclosed that enrolment under the state's Ilera Eko health insurance scheme had reached 1,502,994 residents as of May 2026, with more than half of beneficiaries being women, indicating that healthcare coverage was translating into genuine access rather than merely distributing insurance cards.
He explained that the state's healthcare financing reforms aimed to reduce residents' dependence on out-of-pocket payments during illness.
The governor further disclosed that the LASHMA Assistance in Distress programme, designed to provide emergency care regardless of patients' ability to pay, had saved 18 lives since its March launch, supporting emergency cases including road traffic injuries, surgical emergencies, obstetric crises, and strokes.
He stated that emergency patients should receive stabilisation first, with payment discussions occurring afterward.
Regarding healthcare workforce challenges, Sanwo-Olu explained that the state was addressing shortages through recruitment initiatives, improved working conditions, accommodation provisions for health workers, and increased investment in medical training.
He disclosed that Lagos faces a healthcare funding gap of approximately ₦100 billion between current budgetary allocation and actual sectoral requirements, noting that declining donor support had necessitated sustainable financing reforms.
The governor added that the state was developing a dedicated University of Medicine and Health Sciences to expand training capacity for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals, emphasising that healthcare system success should be measured by institutional effectiveness in serving residents rather than merely counting constructed facilities.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, stated that the Eko Health Convention provided a platform for healthcare sector stakeholders to collaborate, emphasising that the Ministry of Health bears responsibility for ensuring quality healthcare delivery across public, private, and informal sectors, serving all Lagos residents rather than exclusively public facility users.
He explained that the state was working to regulate the informal health sector, including traditional medicine practitioners and patent medicine vendors, to ensure residents receive quality care.
The commissioner indicated that Lagos was positioning itself as a medical tourism destination through investments in specialist healthcare facilities and initiatives encouraging diaspora-based professionals to return.
He noted that transitioning the Lagos State College of Medicine into a comprehensive University of Medicine and Health Sciences would expand the state's capacity to train healthcare professionals, describing this as part of a broader strategy encouraging professionals who relocated abroad to return with enhanced skills and experience.
The commissioner further highlighted technology's role in expanding healthcare access through telemedicine, virtual learning, and remote medical expertise, while urging residents to embrace health insurance and avoid self-medication, particularly regarding suspected malaria cases.
He noted that improved testing protocols had reduced malaria test positivity in public health facilities from approximately 60 per cent to around 5 per cent, indicating that many previously misdiagnosed illnesses stemmed from other conditions, while overall malaria prevalence in Lagos had declined from approximately 15 per cent fifteen years ago to about 2 per cent currently.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi, urged healthcare workers to remain committed to strengthening the state's health system, stating that the government was investing in skills development, innovation, and professional growth while encouraging diaspora-based healthcare professionals to contribute their expertise toward Lagos's development, emphasising that comprehensive healthcare improvement requires collective effort beyond government action alone.