By Ayomide Otitoju
The Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) has held a strategic engagement with Medical Directors of General Hospitals across the state to accelerate implementation of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Executive Order mandating social health insurance for all residents.
The meeting, held on Tuesday at the Soujourner Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, focused on the critical role of public secondary health facilities in enforcing compliance and advancing universal health coverage in Lagos State.
Speaking at the session, the Permanent Secretary of LASHMA, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, described the engagement as a key milestone in the state’s transition to full implementation of mandatory health insurance. She noted that the Executive Order, signed on July 16, 2024, and reinforced by a Presidential directive in September 2025, places healthcare providers at the centre of translating policy into tangible benefits for residents.
Zamba said General Hospitals are expected to verify enrolment status, provide services to insured patients and facilitate on-the-spot registration for uninsured individuals at the point of care. She stressed that in line with the Executive Order, patients with life-threatening emergencies must be stabilised immediately before any insurance verification, while services rendered on the day of enrolment would only become billable after plan activation.
She also disclosed that LASHMA has deployed enrollee verification systems, provider-led enrolment processes and a structured emergency support framework, LASHMA-AID, which is scheduled for formal launch on Thursday, December 18, 2025. According to her, the initiatives are aimed at supporting hospitals and ensuring seamless enforcement of the mandatory scheme.
Reaffirming the agency’s commitment to improved service delivery, Zamba said the engagement provided an avenue to identify operational challenges, agree on practical solutions and strengthen collaboration with healthcare providers. Citing the 2025 Universal Health Coverage Day theme, she said many residents were burdened by out-of-pocket payments, urging hospitals to help change the narrative through effective implementation of ILERA EKO.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Health Service Commission (HSC), Dr. Abimbola Mabogunje, described the meeting as timely, noting growing public demand for full enforcement of the social health insurance scheme. She said studies have shown that a low proportion of patients, particularly children, accessing care in public facilities are insured, leaving most families exposed to financial hardship.
Mabogunje stressed that health insurance offers financial protection and assurance, which is central to achieving universal health coverage. She called on General Hospitals, as government-owned secondary facilities, to lead by example, given their capacity to provide multi-specialty care, while urging LASHMA to remain responsive to provider concerns.
In a presentation, Mr. Tosin Awosika, Coordinator, Regulations at LASHMA, outlined the legal and policy framework of the Executive Order, explaining that it aligns the Lagos State Health Scheme Law with the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022. He highlighted provisions on compulsory enrolment, verification before accessing services and protections for emergency cases and vulnerable groups.
Awosika said hospitals are required to establish functional ILERA EKO desks, provide 24-hour support for enrollees, register uninsured patients on-site and refrain from making derogatory remarks about the scheme, noting that compliance is essential to reducing out-of-pocket spending and building public trust.
Addressing service delivery concerns, Dr. Olugbenga Fadipe, Head of ILERA EKO Medical at LASHMA, urged Medical Directors to improve internal coordination, ensure proper understanding of benefit packages and address staffing and workflow gaps identified through enrollee feedback. He also called for dedicated communication channels and consistent senior-level participation in stakeholder engagements.
Closing the meeting, the Medical Director of Randle General Hospital, Surulere, Dr. Olumide Sojinrin, described the session as one of the most productive engagements with LASHMA in recent times. He pledged the support of Medical Directors for the health insurance programme, stressing that the mandatory nature of the scheme requires sustained collaboration, open communication and shared responsibility among all stakeholders.
