Angela Onwuzoo
The Lagos State Government has urged residents to embrace health insurance to reduce out-of-pocket healthcare spending, ease pressure on public hospitals and improve access to affordable care across the state.
The government said health insurance remained key to addressing bed-space shortages and decongesting public hospitals.
The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed this in Alausa during an interactive session with journalists, stressing that Lagos was shifting residents away from out-of-pocket healthcare spending towards insurance-based financing.
Abayomi said Lagos public hospitals were subsidised, making them more affordable than private facilities.
He attributed the continued increase in patient numbers at public hospitals to their affordability, alongside the state’s growing population.
The commissioner said the rising patient numbers were putting additional pressure on healthcare workers, whose challenges had been compounded by the migration of health professionals.
Describing health insurance as a social safety net, Abayomi said every Lagos resident should
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