The Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) has held a strategic engagement with Medical Directors of General Hospitals across the state.
Eko Hot News reports that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Executive Order mandates social health insurance for all residents. critical role of public secondary health facilities in ensuring compliance with the policy and advancing universal health coverage in Lagos State.
Opening the session, the Permanent Secretary of LASHMA, Dr Emmanuella Zamba, described the engagement as a key milestone in translating the Executive Order, signed on July 16, 2024, into measurable health outcomes for residents, noting its reinforcement by a Presidential directive in September 2025.
Dr Zamba explained that Medical Directors are central to operationalising the policy, with General Hospitals expected to verify enrolment, provide services to insured patients, and support on-the-spot registration of uninsured residents at points of care.
She outlined operational guidelines, including the requirement for immediate stabilisation of emergency cases before insurance verification, adding that treatments provided on the day of enrolment become billable only after activation in line with approved protocols.
The LASHMA boss disclosed that new systems, including enrollee verification tools, provider-led enrolment processes and the LASHMA-AID emergency services framework, would be formally launched on Thursday, December 18, 2025.
She reaffirmed the Agency’s commitment to improving service delivery through collaboration, stressing that the engagement created room to address operational challenges and strengthen implementation of the ILERA EKO health insurance scheme.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Health Service Commission, Dr Abimbola Mabogunje, said the meeting was timely, given the rising demand for full implementation of social health insurance across public hospitals.
Dr Mabogunje highlighted research findings showing low insurance coverage among children accessing care in some public facilities, stressing that health insurance remains critical to reducing out-of-pocket spending and achieving universal health coverage in Lagos State.
