AXA Mansard, Lagos partner to end medical tourism
To ensure that its citizenry gain access to standard healthcare, Lagos government has partnered with AXA Mansard Insurance to reduce medical tourism in the country and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Jide Idris, Lagos State Commissioner for Health revealed plans to establish an agency by law to manage the State’s health insurance scheme expected to roll out soon. Also, the government aims to ensure that affordable and quality health care services are delivered to the people.
“They (Mansard Group) have expressed their interest to partner with us on our health insurance scheme which we are rolling out very soon. It is a financing scheme for the system and a way of introducing reforms, re-jig the system and make it better.
“We have provided that enabling environment in the sense that we are going to have an agency by law and every resident of Lagos is going to contribute to that purse. We will be using both public and private health providers and that is where AXA Mansard comes in with healthcare facilities.
“Also to enable us process the programme properly, we are using what we call health insurance agents. Those ones will act between Government and the people with respect to providing the health insurance scheme,” Idris said.
Giving more details on the partnership during a courtesy visit to Lagos state Governor, Mrs Yetunde Ilori, Chief Executive Officer of AXA Mansard Insurance, said having keenly followed the activities of the State Government and the passion of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on healthcare delivery, the firm thought it important to partner with government in the best interest of the people.
“We are here to show our intention to partner with the State Government in the area of healthcare delivery and we are about putting in place in Lekki a world class 150-bed hospital.
“This is just a tiny bit compared to our need in Nigeria but we want to run like a hub and expand subsequently. We are going to have some Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) on the Mainland in Lagos and from there we go to entire Nigeria.
“We are not in any way in doubt of the support as pledged at the concluded meeting with the Governor that this is not going to be an abandoned project because we are going to have all the support needed and in that wise, our intention is to make Lagos a kind of medical tourism centre where people in sub-Saharan Africa will be coming to Nigeria to receive healthcare instead of going to places like India,” Ilori said.
On his part, Mr Tosin Runsewe, Mansard’s Chief Client Officer, explained that the company would bring its expertise to bear in the project.
“We are bringing the expertise of Axa Mansard to bear upon this particular area. We will executive, over the next couple of years, social infrastructure in the area of medical facilities and we will be linking this with the health insurance we have already to ensure that Lagos residents have access to medical care at affordable prices,” Runsewe said.
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