1 day Ago By Janet Ogundepo
Janet Ogundepo The Lagos State Health Management Agency has encouraged residents to take advantage of telemedicine, noting that for certain services, it is nearly as effective as in-person consultations. The agency said that while more residents, especially those in underserved and vulnerable communities, were embracing telemedicine, there was a need to intensify awareness to build public trust in the service. The agency’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Emmanuella Zamba, made this statement in Lagos during the presentation of the PDSA Wave One Report on the Implementation Research to Test Equitable Telehealth.
The project was conducted in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Solina Centre for International Development and Research, and VillageReach. Zamba noted that the collaborating organisations were focused on developing and deploying telemedicine models to bridge healthcare access gaps, especially in hard-to-reach areas. She said, “It is an 18-month project, although there were delays.
The objective is for us to, at the end of the day, be able to integrate it into what we are doing as health insurance, fitting it into the design that we already have on the ground. We do have telemedicine embedded in the standard general plan, which is the current social health insurance plan. However, all the learnings from here will help us refine what we do so that it becomes sustainable and complementary access to care for people, especially those who need it.
“People who don’t have the immediate fortune of having a doctor at their doorstep can use it. If you look at the cost of having to travel to the hospital and wait in a queue, meanwhile, from the comfort of your home or shop, you can speak to a doctor. Yes, it does not offer everything, but at least for basic primary healthcare, you can get it.
” On his part, the Project Director for SCIDaR, Mr Oluwaleke Jegede, said the implementation research was carried out to explore how best to adopt existing telehealth solutions to meet the unique needs of vulnerable persons in Lagos. He explained that the findings from the implementation research were shared to align stakeholders on the key adaptations needed for the telehealth models and their broader implications. Jegede said, “We want to obtain input to design a sustainability plan to enhance underserved populations’ access to telehealth.
Beyond the implementation research, we need to start thinking about measures to ensure that underserved populations in Lagos are not left behind.” Copyright PUNCH All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected] Tags Dr Emmanuella Zamba Health insurance Lagos State Health Insurance LASHMA social health insurance plan telehealth solutions Telemedicine.
