Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has said public hospitals in the state provide more affordable healthcare because of government subsidies.
In an interview with ARISE NEWS monitored by The News Chronicle, Abayomi said the government pays the salaries of healthcare workers, electricity bills, equipment and infrastructure costs in public facilities, allowing them to charge less than private hospitals.
The commissioner said Lagos has about 350 public health facilities, including general hospitals, primary healthcare centres and tertiary facilities.
He added that the state has about 3,500 registered private healthcare facilities, putting the ratio of private to public facilities at roughly 10 to one.
Lagos State Commissioner of Health, Prof Akin Abayomi [PHOTO CREDIT: @ProfAkinAbayomi]
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According to him, the subsidy enables public hospitals to charge “less than 50 percent” of what private healthcare providers typically charge.
He also noted that Lagos’ healthcare ecosystem includes traditional medicine practitioners, pharmacists and patent and proprietary medicine vendors who provide services at the grassroots.
