15th January, 2020
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said that the State government will deploy technology to aid precision, faster and smarter healthcare services in all healthcare facilities as a means of achieving its Health and Environment mandate.
Sanwo-Olu who disclosed this while declaring open a 3-day Smart Health Technical Symposium on e-Health themed “Lagos State Smart Health Information Platform, SHIP” stressed that the present administration is prepared to leverage on technology to improve health care delivery in the state.
The Governor who was represented by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat stated that the essence of the eHealth symposium organized by the State Ministry of Health is to enhance the already existing e-health platform to ensure Lagos remain in tune with modern technology.
He explained further that the development of eHealth makes it possible to have a single source of truth with a solid database which makes planning effective
“It is important for us to establish and strengthen our health information platform as this will positively impact on our various health care system, health financing through our universal health coverage, biosecurity, biosafety which will also lead to employment opportunities while opening doors for international collaboration”, the Governor said.
Highlighting the importance of accurate data in medicine and healthcare delivery, Sanwo-Olu described data as the currency of the future stating further that data generated under the Lagos State One health strategy would enable the Sanwo-Olu administration to better meet the needs of residents and implement lasting policies for the benefits of future generations
Sanwo-Olu noted that eHealth platform is similar to the art of technology recently launched by the state government. He added that the technology master plan will allow developers to develop a useful system in the state.
He revealed that the present administration is currently working on a 3000km of fibre optic network which allows an accessible network to all hospitals and public agencies.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi pointed out that the 3-day technical conference on eHealth is geared towards strengthening the Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP) of the State which would further strengthen the State’s one healthcare record policy.
He listed the advantages of SHIP to include precision medicine, accelerated human resource development, quality assurance, standardize the exchange of information and optimizes operating procedures adding that SHIP is in furtherance of the efforts to ensure efficient and effective healthcare delivery in Lagos State.
Abayomi explained that the Lagos State smart health strategy will improve efficiency, reduce wastage of scarce resources, improve income generation, drive the bio-economy, accelerate human resource development, create global virtual health hub and prepare the State to enter the digital age of precision medicine.
Said he, “we are trying to up the game, it is a matter of making what we have done more and cover more people. So a good and working digital health platform makes the health system run faster, make it more efficient and remove the delay that may arise from patient referral and transfer between health facilities”
The Commissioner noted that one Lagos-One Health digital strategy will be owned by Lagos and partners will help deliver a road map, global benchmark standards, a business model, a technical working group, timelines to first prototype and Income Generating strategies.
Participants at the conference are expected to examine the modalities of bringing more hospitals from the primary to secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities on board the interactive Health Management Information system software, simply referred to as e-health project which had been introduced in 12 Lagos State-owned hospitals some years ago.
The conference participants include policymakers, experts in healthcare financing, data collection agencies and healthcare practitioners.