Lagos to Improve Funding of Medical Sector as Sanwo-Olu Laments Brain Drain

Alex Olise/

Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has pledged his administration’s commitment to the improvement of the welfare and working condition of medical doctors practising in the state. 

The governor made the promise last Wednesday during the opening ceremony of Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigerian (AGPMPN), Lagos state chapter’s Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting with the theme “Who Cares for the Careers: Gap in the Health Reforms Strategies. 

The event held at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, attracted eminent personalities, including the speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Madushiru Obasa.

The Lagos State governor who was represented by the Commissioner of Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, said that Gov Sanwo-Olu’s administration wanted the health delivery system in Lagos State to be restructured to meet up with the modern standard. 

He noted that the state will increase the funding of the health sector from 8% to 15% of the annual budget, in line with the Abuja declaration.

According to him, the state government is worried about the brain drain in the medical profession and would do everything possible to make the environment attractive and increase the welfare of doctors in the state. 

The governor also assured Lagos residents that the state has put in place Biosecurity measures to checkmate any possible break out of Ebola disease to avert what happened a few years ago when the disease broke out.

Obasa, in his speech at the event, said that the state government would do everything possible to improve healthcare delivery, as he promised to support the doctors. 

Chairman of the AGPMPN Lagos chapter, Dr Tunji Akintade, in his welcome address, said that the success and achievement in health service delivery in Lagos State had been due to the good collaboration between the state ministry of health and private sector. 

He thanked Gov. Sanwo-Olu for appointing a technocrat and researcher in the person of professor Akin Abayomi as the Commissioner for Health in Lagos State. 

Chairman of Nigerian Medical Doctor Association Lagos State chapter,  Dr Saliu Oseni said the event provided an opportunity for the medical practitioners to sit down and restrategize to improve on the health care delivery process in the state. 

It was also seen as a good opportunity to improve the system with a view to getting doctors back to the country. 

He urged the government to see doctors as an essential commodity by seeing into their needs.

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