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Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Akin Abayomi, says despite the Abuja Declaration of 15 percent budget allocation to health, the state is performing at 8 percent of its budget allocated to healthcare with plans to achieve more than the target.
Abayomi, who spoke on Wednesday at a press parley with journalists organised by the state Ministry of Health, said it was necessary that government subsidised healthcare as billions of dollar were needed for the sector to advance, and this could not make the state key into the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund that provided N1 billion funding for each state in the country to address healthcare needs.
“We are talking about billions of dollar investment in healthcare. If we want our health system to grow, we need to invest more. We need at least N80 billion for healthcare in Lagos State,” he said.
However, the parley at the state ministry of health was on government’s plan towards the health sector, as the Commissioner said the government was putting in place strategies to meet the dynamic health needs of the state, being a fast growing city with over 24 million people.
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According to Abayomi, the success of the Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme is largely dependent on the functionality of the primary health care system in its drive to achieve universal health care coverage.
“The effectiveness of the primary health care would go a long way in reducing the pressures on the secondary and tertiary health care facilities; the government would not relent on putting in place necessary measures in enhancing best practices in the healthcare system,” he said.
There is need for collaborations with relevant agencies of government, stakeholders and the private sector with a view to revitalising the primary healthcare system, he said, noting that about 66 percent of Lagos residents cannot pay for quality healthcare as they live below the poverty threshold.
“This percentage of people in the state could not pay for healthcare and could not be captured in the insurance scheme. With the health insurance scheme aimed to ensure accessibility and affordability, only 33 percent of people who were well to do could access it.
“We have to address the health of the under-privileged people. We feel they are one step away from poverty and they don’t have the capacity to respond to sickness,” he said.
The commissioner said the present administration was poised to ensure that the entry point to the state health care system, which is the primary health care centres, delivered on its mandate of providing quality basic health care services without any barrier whatsoever.
