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Lagos State Government has renewed its push for mandatory health insurance and stronger local capacity for advanced cardiac care as beneficiaries of its Free Health Initiative recounted how government intervention helped pull them back from life-threatening illnesses.
The beneficiaries, including 19-year-old Lydia Ogungbayi, 16-year-old Moshood Muritala and three-year-old Ayoife George, were received by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Kemi Ogunyemi; and Permanent Secretary, Dr Dayo Lajide, during a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Health.
Abayomi said the cases underscored the need for government to combine specialist expertise, modern infrastructure, funding and health insurance to ensure residents can obtain life-saving treatment without being pushed into poverty.
“For us as government, in healthcare delivery, there is one side that is the ability to treat, and then there is the other side, which is who pays for it, because there is nothing that is free,” he said.
The Commissioner praised cardiothoracic surgeon, Prof. Bode Falase, for choosing to remain in Nigeria and build advanced cardiac surgery capacity in Lagos, saying the State was determined to develop local expertise and reduce dependence on overseas treatment.
He said the proposed Massey Children’s Specialist Referral Centre was part of efforts to build specialist capacity so that complex procedures could increasingly be performed in Lagos rather than sending patients to India, the United Kingdom, the United States or South Africa.
Abayomi also intensified the State’s advocacy for mandatory health insurance, saying the recently issued executive order making health insurance compulsory was crucial to protecting families from catastrophic medical bills.
“Your health is your greatest asset. Insure it,” he declared, adding that insurance would help prevent families from selling homes, land or exhausting their savings to save loved ones.
Ogunyemi said the beneficiaries’ recovery reflected the commitment of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration under the THEMES Plus Agenda to ensuring access to quality healthcare, even when treatment was unavailable locally.
She disclosed that the Ministry receives hundreds of requests for medical assistance, refunds and overseas treatment, but limited resources make difficult prioritisation unavoidable.
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“Choosing who to help is one of the most difficult things you can ever imagine,” she said, commending the Director, Medical Administration, Training and Programmes, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Mazeedat Erinosho, and her team for painstakingly reviewing applications and mobilising resources for deserving patients.
Lajide said the beneficiaries’ recovery demonstrated the impact of the often-unseen administrative work behind government-funded healthcare. She noted that approvals, paperwork, telephone calls, and efforts to secure funding were required before treatment could proceed.
Erinosho said Lydia, who has HbSS, developed constrictive pericarditis that caused massive swelling and severe difficulty with movement. The state provided N5 million towards her treatment, while additional resources were mobilised for the complex operation.
She said the surgery, performed a day before Lydia’s birthday, lasted about 10 hours and was successfully completed.
Erinosho also recounted Moshood’s difficult experience in India, where he underwent multiple surgeries and spent more than a month on a ventilator before additional funding, including $10,000 raised through government and well-meaning individuals, enabled his return to Nigeria.
Falase said Lydia first presented at the cardiothoracic clinic in 2024 and later underwent surgery in December 2025. “Lydia, who I’m seeing here today, is completely changed,” he said, thanking the state government for supporting the procedure.
Lydia, who had lived with progressive massive anasarca caused by constrictive pericarditis for five years and nine months, expressed gratitude to the government and medical team, saying the intervention gave her “a brand-new health.”
Other beneficiaries included Moshood, diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries, and three-year-old Ayoife, who underwent surgery in India for Ventricular Septal Defect and Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction.
Abayomi said Lagos’ ultimate goal was to ensure residents could access complex treatment locally while mandatory insurance protected them from financial ruin. “We don’t want anybody in Lagos to be plunged into poverty because they got sick,” he added.
