Lagos enrols over one million residents in health insurance scheme 

Angela Onwuzoo 

Lagos State Government has enrolled no fewer than 1,014, 826 residents into its Health Insurance Scheme, popularly known as Ilera-Eko, since its inception.

The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Health Management Agency, Dr Emmanuella Zamba, who disclosed this during an exclusive interview with PINCH Healthwise, said the agency had expanded its coverage of care to the vulnerable population.

The state health insurance scheme, enacted into law in May 2015, officially commenced operations in December 2018.

According to her, the LSHS is a mandatory health insurance coverage for all residents of the state, including indigents, vulnerable, economically disadvantaged, all employees in the public and private sectors, the self-employed, and the unemployed.

Zamba highlighted the significant expansion of the scheme’s coverage, which now includes 448 hospitals—up from the initial 57—ensuring comprehensive health coverage across all the 20  local government areas and 30 local council development areas in the state.

The LASHMA boss said, “We currently have over one million lives on the scheme. It is about 1,014, 826 lives as of the 30th of April, 2024 and it will continue to grow.

“We have a variety of mix of the population. We have the formal sector which are public servants and the vulnerable because Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has given us one percent of the equity fund. He has made it a first-line charge so that we can continue to enrol people and expand the coverage of care.

“We have quite a significant population of the vulnerable. Also, we have the general public even within the informal sector on the scheme.”

The PS said the government was working to improve the quality of services in the state health facilities.

“Since the commencement of the Ilera Eko Social Health Plan, we have taken actionable steps towards improving healthcare service delivery on the Scheme.

“The agency has increased health benefits on the Ilera Eko plan, and various provider improvement initiatives are also being implemented just to ensure all our customers enjoy quality health services”, she said.

Zamba reiterated that the Lagos State health insurance plan was not meant for only civil servants but for every resident of the state.

She noted, “The administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the health sector a focal point of his administration and this is one of the initiatives in the health sector which is to ensure accessibility of healthcare to all the residents.

“Recently the agency Launched a diaspora plan, a novel initiative in the Nigerian Social Health Insurance space.”