The Lagos State Deputy Governor and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the 2027 election, Obafemi Hamzat, has pledged to expand the state’s health insurance coverage to one in every three residents and upgrade about 150 primary healthcare centres to round-the-clock facilities if elected governor.
Hamzat said the proposed expansion would improve access to healthcare, protect residents from the financial burden of illness and ensure that more communities had access to functional primary healthcare services.
He also promised to expand bed capacity in nine general hospitals, complete ongoing hospital projects and establish a new university of medicine to increase the number of doctors trained in the state.
The deputy governor made the commitments on Sunday during the Lagos Governorship Debate organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, a coalition of media organisations comprising The PUNCH, Channels Television, TVC News, TheCable and Vanguard Newspaper, ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
Hamzat said expanding the Lagos State health insurance scheme, Ilera Eko, would be a major priority under his proposed People First pillar on health and dignity.
“Ilera Eko currently has over 1.4 million enrollees. We must expand its coverage to reach one in every three people in Lagos. That allows you to make sure that when illness comes, you don’t get ruined,” he said.
On healthcare infrastructure, Hamzat listed ongoing hospital projects in Ojo, Massey and Shomolu, which he said would collectively provide 580 additional beds.
“Currently, Lagos is building Ojo General Hospital. It’s a 280-bed hospital. Massey Hospital right there that everybody can see is another 150-bed hospital for our children. And then Shomolu Hospital is a 150-bed new addition. That is 580 beds,” he stated.
He said his manifesto also provided for a 50 per cent increase in bed capacity across nine general hospitals, including those in Gbagada, Ikorodu, Badagry and Epe.
Hamzat said the expansion was necessary because Lagos hospitals also received patients from neighbouring states.
The Lagos deputy governor added that the proposed increase in hospital capacity would help the state respond to growing demand for healthcare services.
On primary healthcare, the APC candidate said Lagos had more than 300 primary healthcare centres, but only 87 were flagship facilities.
He pledged to increase the number of flagship centres to about 150, with services available throughout the day and night.
“We’ve also said we have over 300 PHCs in Lagos. Only 87 of them are flagship. We promise to turn about 150 of them into flagship centres,” he said.
Explaining the proposed arrangement, Hamzat said, “What flagship means is that it’s 24/7. When a woman gets sick in the night, or a child is sick, we ensure that the hospital will be ready. That is what we promise.”
The deputy governor also mentioned increasing the number of doctors as a priority, saying that the creation of a new university of medicine in the state was to produce up to 1,000 doctors.
“And then most importantly, we are building a new university of medicine to make sure that we can produce more doctors. Today, the council limits how many we can produce. We want to produce up to a thousand doctors,” he said.
Hamzat maintained that the state’s challenge was not the quality of its doctors but the need to expand healthcare facilities and increase capacity.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association noted that the state has only 8,200 doctors in private and public health facilities out of the 30,000 needed to cater to the healthcare needs of over 20 million Lagosians.
The severe shortage of human resources has been worsened by the continuous outbound migration of medical professionals, otherwise known as Japa syndrome.
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