Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said the state is facing a shortage of about 40,000 doctors and a similar number of nurses, warning that the healthcare sector also requires an additional ₦100 billion beyond current budgetary allocations to adequately serve its growing population.
The governor disclosed this on Thursday at the opening of the second Eko Health Convention held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, where he also revealed that more than 1.5 million residents had enrolled in the state’s health insurance scheme, Ilera Eko.
Sanwo-Olu described inadequate manpower and funding as the most pressing challenges confronting healthcare delivery in Lagos, noting that declining international donor support had increased the need for sustainable local financing.
According to him, Lagos currently has about 7,000 doctors, far below the estimated workforce required to meet the healthcare needs of its population. He added that the state also faces a significant shortage of nurses, with each doctor effectively handling the workload of several practitioners.
The governor said the health sector was operating with a funding gap of at least ₦100 billion, stressing that the reduction in donor financing for disease control programmes meant governments must increasingly rely on domestic resources to strengthen healthcare services.
To address the workforce deficit, Sanwo-Olu said the state had embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive, recently opening employment opportunities across its 29 secondary healthcare facilities.
He added that the government had introduced measures to improve the welfare of health workers, including the provision of accommodation, while plans were underway to establish a University of Medicine and Health Sciences to support the training of future healthcare professionals.
On health insurance, the governor said the compulsory social health insurance policy introduced following the domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority Act had continued to expand access to healthcare across the state.
He disclosed that membership of the Ilera Eko scheme had exceeded 1.5 million as of the end of May, with women accounting for more than half of the enrollees.
According to him, the increasing utilisation of the scheme indicates that beneficiaries are actively accessing healthcare services rather than merely registering for coverage.
Sanwo-Olu also highlighted the impact of the Lagos State Health Management Agency’s Assistance in Distress programme, revealing that it had saved 18 lives since its launch in March by providing emergency care for patients involved in road accidents, obstetric emergencies, strokes and other critical medical conditions.
The governor said technology remained central to the state’s healthcare reforms, noting that the Lagos Smart Health Information Platform was being deployed across public health facilities to improve service delivery.
He explained that the digital platform would enable seamless access to patients’ medical records across healthcare institutions, strengthen disease surveillance and support data-driven planning and decision-making.
Sanwo-Olu added that the government was also investing in artificial intelligence and other digital innovations to improve diagnosis, medical imaging and the overall quality of healthcare services.
Reaffirming his administration’s long-term vision for the sector, the governor said the focus was on building enduring institutions capable of sustaining ongoing reforms beyond the life of the current administration.
He maintained that initiatives such as Ilera Eko, the health district system and the digital health platform were designed to create a resilient healthcare system that would continue to benefit Lagos residents in the years ahead.
