Governor Sanwolu,
The Lagos State Government has disclosed that the state urgently needs an additional 66,000 healthcare professionals—33,000 doctors and 33,000 nurses—to meet the medical needs of its growing population.
At the 2025 ministerial press briefing marking the second year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term, the State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, explained the scale of the shortfall.
“There is an urgent demand to exponentially increase quality healthcare professionals in Nigeria,” he said, emphasizing the pressing need for expanded human resources in the health sector.
According to Abayomi, Lagos currently has only 7,000 doctors, a fraction of what is required to serve the state’s population adequately.
He added that similar deficits exist among nurses and other critical healthcare personnel.
To address the situation, the commissioner said the government is banking on the Lagos State University of Medicine and Health (UMH) to help close the gap.
“Within 5 years, UMH will produce about 2,500 healthcare workers (HCWs) annually in Lagos State. Other cadres will include laboratory scientists,” he noted.
On health insurance, Abayomi revealed that only 1,252,959 residents have enrolled in the state’s health insurance program—representing just 4.17 percent of the total population.
He said that 419 health facilities are currently offering services under the scheme.
Nonetheless, he expressed optimism about the impact of recent reforms “The new mandatory nature of the state health insurance act would significantly scale up the size of the pool of funds for the State Health Insurance Scheme.”
In terms of infrastructure, the commissioner provided updates on ongoing hospital projects across Lagos.
He stated that the New Massey Street 150-bed Children’s Specialist Referral Hospital is now 70 percent completed.
The 280-bed Ojo General Hospital and Staff Quarters in Iba, Ojo, has reached 75 percent completion, while the Mental Health Institute in Epe stands at 65 percent.
Abayomi assured the public that “all three health facilities will be commissioned for use in April 2026.”
