Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said the state requires about 40,000 additional doctors and another 40,000 nurses to adequately meet the healthcare needs of its growing population.
The governor also disclosed that the state’s healthcare sector requires at least N100bn above current budgetary allocations to bridge its funding gap and improve service delivery.
Sanwo-Olu made the disclosure on Thursday at the opening of the second Eko Health Convention held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
He identified shortage of healthcare workers and inadequate funding as the two biggest challenges confronting the state’s health system, adding that donor funding for disease control programmes was declining.
“Lagos needs about 40,000 doctors to serve this population properly. We have about 7,000. We need roughly 40,000 more nurses. Every doctor in Lagos today is, in effect, doing the work of 10,” he said.
The governor added that the health sector faces a funding deficit of at least N100bn between current budgetary provisions and what the system requires.
“Donor financing, which supported much of our disease control for two decades, is contracting sharply and will not return in its old form,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Sanwo-Olu said the state had begun tackling the workforce shortage through increased recruitment, improved welfare packages and plans to establish a University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
“We have recruited aggressively, and last month opened clinical recruitment across all twenty-nine of our secondary facilities,” he said.
He added that the government had provided accommodation for health workers and was improving working conditions to reduce staff exits and attract more professionals back to the state.
On healthcare financing, the governor said more than 1.5 million residents had enrolled in the Lagos State health insurance scheme, Ilera Eko.
He said the compulsory social health insurance programme had continued to expand following the domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority Act.
“Today, more than one and a half million Lagosians are enrolled in Ilera Eko. As at the end of May this year, the figure stood at 1,502,994. More than half are women,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He noted that increasing utilisation of the scheme showed that residents were accessing actual healthcare services rather than merely holding insurance cards.
The governor also disclosed that the Lagos State Health Management Agency’s Assistance in Distress programme had saved 18 lives since it became operational in March.
He said the programme had supported victims of road traffic injuries, surgical emergencies, obstetric crises and strokes without requiring them to first prove their ability to pay.
Sanwo-Olu further highlighted the government’s investment in technology through the Lagos Smart Health Information Platform, which is being implemented across public health institutions.
According to him, the platform will allow patients’ medical records to be accessed seamlessly across healthcare facilities, strengthen disease surveillance and support evidence-based healthcare planning.
He added that Lagos was also investing in artificial intelligence and digital innovation to improve diagnosis, medical imaging and healthcare delivery.
The governor reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to building sustainable healthcare institutions that would continue beyond his tenure.
“We have kept our promises. Now we are building the systems that will keep them long after us,” he said.
