The Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) has launched the Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS) regulatory portal to strengthen health insurance governance as part of its ongoing efforts to achieve universal health coverage for its citizens.
Developed by PharmAccess Foundation with support from the Global Fund under the Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) grant, the portal aims to enhance the management of health insurance in Lagos State.
The comprehensive web-based portal will store, manage, and retrieve data related to health insurance agencies, including registered corporate organizations, healthcare providers, and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in Lagos State.
The portal sets a new standard for health insurance regulation and management in Lagos State.
At the recent handover ceremony held at LASHMA’s new office, the Agency’s Permanent Secretary, Emmanuella Zamba emphasized the commitment of the Lagos State government to explore every option that would lead to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for the residents.
Others at the event included Njide Ndili, Country Director of PharmAccess; Tosin Awosika, Regulations Coordinator at LASHMA; Sefiu Oladejo, Technology and IT Manager at LASHMA; and Ademola Ade-Serrano, Innovation Manager at PharmAccess.
Given this, she noted that the State had to be innovative, which led to exploring the critical role the regulatory portal will play in ensuring compliance and efficiency in health insurance regulation across the state.
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“Health insurance is now mandatory, and we must be at the top of our game. Setting up this portal would help us, as it would play a pivotal role in getting health coverage for all in Lagos state.
“The investment made by PharmAccess will be cherished, with the portal serving its intended purpose of advancing health insurance oversight”, Zamba said.
Emphasizing the importance of partnerships in implementing people-centred policies, she said the regulatory portal was a result of the collective effort with PharmAccess.
She said the importance of continued partnership in driving forward the health insurance mandate in Lagos cannot be overemphasized, adding that strong collaboration is key to realizing the ambitious goal of UHC.
“PharmAccess would be remembered with their names in gold for being the first organization to support LASHMA when we started the Regulations department.
“We appreciate all the years of collaborative efforts, and we hope that as we enter this new phase, our collaboration will be stronger, and we will create history together by demonstrating how UHC can be achieved in Nigeria,” she said.
In her remarks, PharmAccess Country Director Ndili, while reflecting on the four years of extensive collaboration between PharmAccess and LASHMA, emphasized the importance of the regulatory portal in advancing healthcare in Lagos.
She assured of PharmAccess Foundation’s commitment to supporting LASHMA and the Lagos State government in their pursuit of universal health coverage for its citizens, saying “The journey started four years ago and it is truly revolutionary now that both the NHIA Act and the LSHS Law have mandated health insurance for every Nigerian.
“The portal’s transformative potential in shaping the future of health insurance regulation in the State is immeasurable.
“This is because strengthening digital public infrastructure is essential to achieving UHC, and the success of this portal demonstrates how innovation and collaboration can make a difference”.
Ndili also affirmed the foundation’s commitment to remaining a steadfast partner with LASHMA in advancing the healthcare goals of Lagos State and Nigeria.
Ade-Serrano, the project development lead, highlighted that strengthening Nigeria’s digital public health infrastructure, exemplified by the LSHS Regulatory Portal, is crucial for achieving universal health coverage by improving efficiency, scalability, and the capacity of public health agencies.