Lockdown: Lagos govt to foot medical bills of pregnant women, indigent patients
The Lagos State government has said it would take full responsibility of the medical bills of all vulnerable and indigent patients at all state-owned secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities for the duration of restriction on movement that the federal government imposed on the state.
Governor Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu, announcing this yesterday in his COVID-19 update, said the new palliative scheme would cover the expenses of pregnant women on maternity delivery and other categories of patients in emergency and casualty cases, laboratory tests and surgeries.
The governor further explained that the cost of any medication bought at the state-owned secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities would be borne by the state government throughout the lockdown period.
“What this new scheme means is that at this time, patients with the listed medical conditions will not need to pay to access treatment and care in all our 27 general hospitals across the state,” he explained,
noting that the move was aimed at ameliorating the difficulties that may be experienced by those whose well-being may have been affected by the ongoing restrictions initiated to curtail the spread of the dreaded virus.
The governor also disclosed that the state had commenced a review of the process of distribution of food relief package.
The state government had approved a welfare programme for those it considered the vulnerable and indigent segment of the state, under which 200,000 households were targeted in the first phase, for the distribution of food items and other essential items.
The governor, admitting there had been hitches in some aspects of the implementation of the programme, said it had begun to make a positive difference in the lives of many of the intended beneficiaries.
“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 programme expansion.
“What we, however, did not reckon with was the extent to which some people would go to deliberately undermine and sabotage a programme intended to bring succour to the poorest among us. This kind of malicious behaviour is unacceptable and we will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that all the culprits are identified and appropriately punished,” he said.
He disclosed that the government was designing a superior strategy to ensure that the programme was not compromised by the “sheer irresponsibility of a few”.
Sanwo-Olu appealed to all residents of Lagos State to continue to obey the directives as issued by the health experts, including practising social distancing, shunning large gatherings, covering mouths when coughing or sneezing, self-isolation and contacting a doctor if feeling unwell.
The governor warned that the “strong arms of the law” would catch up with persons “who insist on flouting directives and guidelines, who seek to take undue advantage of their fellow Lagosians at this time and all those whose aim is to undermine the efforts of the various health authorities.”