Lagos to pay medical bills for pregnant women, others during lockdown, says Sanwo-Olu

By Oziegbe Okoeki and Omolola Afolabi

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Saturday said his government will take full responsibility for the medical bills for some categories of illnesses of all patients in the state who fall ill during the period of restriction of movements as a result of the coronavirus.

However, this is only applicable in all the state owned secondary healthcare facilities.

The governor stated this during a press briefing after the state security meeting in Lagos House, Marina yesterday.

The categories are: emergency/casualty cases, including registration, laboratory tests, surgeries, and drugs; maternity cases: normal delivery and caesarean sections.

“What this means is that, at this time, patients with the above-listed conditions will not need to pay to access treatment and care at all our 27 General Hospitals across the State.

These measures, Sanwo-Olu said is an additional ameliorating measure to complement the welfare packages previously announced by the government which includes relief packages in form of foodstuffs.

The governor said though the program has since begun to make a positive difference in the lives of many of the intended beneficiaries there have however been some hitches and snags in some aspects of the implementation.

“It is not as though, we never envisaged teething problems along the way, but I must tell you that our major focus was to roll out without delay and fine-tune the modalities as we continued with program expansion.

“What we however did not reckon with, was the extent to which some people would go to deliberately undermine and sabotage a program intended to bring succor to the poorest among us.

“This kind of malicious behavior is unacceptable, and we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that all the culprits are identified and appropriately punished,” Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor also promised that his government will continue to work with the federal authorities, represented by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).