12/08/2026
LAGOS CELEBRATES CARDIAC SURGERY SURVIVORS, PUSHES MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE
..Sanwo-Olu administration expands specialist capacity as beneficiaries recount journeys from critical illness to recovery
..Health insurance will prevent families from selling homes, land to save lives - Abayomi
..Lagos prioritises life-saving care despite limited funds - Ogunyemi
Lagos State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to expanding access to advanced cardiac care and protecting residents from catastrophic health expenditure, as beneficiaries of its Free Health Initiative on Tuesday recounted how government intervention helped save their lives. The beneficiaries, including 19-year-old Lydia Ogungbayi, 16-year-old Moshood Muritala and three-year-old Ayoife George, were received by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Kemi Ogunyemi, and Permanent Secretary, Dr. Dayo Lajide, during a courtesy visit at the Ministry’s conference room.
Abayomi said the success stories demonstrated the importance of combining government funding, specialist expertise, modern equipment and health insurance to ensure that residents could access life-saving treatment without being impoverished. He said the State was determined to build local capacity for complex procedures rather than continually sending patients abroad. “For us as government, in healthcare delivery, there is one side that is the ability to treat, and then there is the other side, which is who pays for it, because there is nothing that is free,” he said.
The Commissioner praised cardiothoracic surgeon, Prof. Bode Falase, and his team for developing advanced cardiac surgery capacity in Lagos, noting that such expertise required years of specialised training and practice. Abayomi said Falase could have left Nigeria but chose to remain and build cardiothoracic surgery capacity locally, describing him as an example of the specialists the State needed to retain. “He chose to stay, and he chose to build a renowned institute of cardiothoracic surgery,” he said.
He disclosed that the government was also investing in infrastructure and specialised institutions, including the proposed Massey Children’s Specialist Referral Centre, to ensure that advanced procedures for children could increasingly be performed in Lagos rather than in India, the United Kingdom, the United States or South Africa. “We’re trying to build that capacity on ground so that the next patient that comes, we will not be in a position to send you to India,” Abayomi said.
Abayomi used the occasion to intensify the State’s advocacy for mandatory health insurance, saying the recently issued executive order making health insurance compulsory was central to protecting families from financial devastation caused by serious illnesses. “Your health is your greatest asset. Insure it,” he declared, explaining that insurance would enable the healthy to support those who become ill while reducing the risk of families selling property or exhausting their savings to pay medical bills.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Kemi Ogunyemi said the beneficiaries’ recovery reflected the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration’s commitment under the THEMES Plus Agenda to ensuring that Lagosians could access quality healthcare, even where the required treatment was unavailable locally. She said the Ministry receives hundreds of applications seeking assistance for treatment, refunds or overseas medical care, but limited resources make prioritisation necessary.
The Special Adviser commended Dr. Mazeedat Erinosho and her team for painstakingly reviewing applications and pursuing funding for deserving patients. Recalling Moshood’s case, she said the teenager eventually became stranded in India after complications and prolonged treatment created additional financial demands. “Choosing who to help is one of the most difficult things you can ever imagine,” Ogunyemi said, stressing that government must nevertheless make difficult decisions with the resources available.
Ogunyemi also praised Prof. Falase and the wider LASUTH cardiothoracic team, stressing that successful cardiac surgery was a collective effort involving surgeons, physicians, anaesthetists, nurses and other health professionals. “They cannot do anything without the nurses. It cannot happen. It is a team effort,” she said, adding that the State would continue to recognise specialists whose expertise was saving lives and strengthening healthcare delivery.
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dayo Lajide described the beneficiaries’ recovery as a heartwarming outcome of the extensive administrative work behind government-funded healthcare interventions. She commended the LASUTH family, Erinosho and the healthcare teams involved, noting that the process often involved extensive paperwork, approvals, telephone calls and efforts to secure funds before treatment could proceed.
According to the Permanent Secretary, the opportunity to see beneficiaries healthy and smiling offered tangible evidence that the often-unseen administrative efforts of government were producing life-changing results. “There’s a lot of file movement, paper pushing, phone calls, just trying to get approvals, trying to get money released,” she said, adding that seeing young beneficiaries doing well made those efforts worthwhile.
The Director of Medical Administration, Training and Programmes, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Mazeedat Erinosho said Lydia was diagnosed with HbSS and subsequently developed constrictive pericarditis, a serious condition that left her with massive swelling and severe difficulty with movement. She said the Ministry secured ₦5 million in State support for Lydia, while additional resources were mobilised to enable the LASUTH cardiothoracic team to perform the complex procedure.
Erinosho said Lydia’s operation, performed a day before her birthday, lasted about 10 hours and was successfully completed despite the fears surrounding the procedure. She also narrated Moshood’s complicated journey to India, where he underwent multiple surgeries and spent more than a month on a ventilator before additional funding, including $10,000 raised through government and well-meaning individuals, enabled his return to Nigeria about three weeks ago.
Falase said Lydia first presented at the cardiothoracic clinic in 2024 and returned several times before plans for surgery commenced in 2025. He credited Erinosho and her team with helping to mobilise the resources needed for the operation and expressed satisfaction with Lydia’s recovery. “Lydia, who I’m seeing here today, is completely changed,” he said.
The cardiothoracic surgeon, who led Lydia’s surgical team, thanked the Lagos State Government for supporting the procedure and commended the beneficiary for her resilience. The team that carried out the surgery included Falase; Consultant Cardiologist, Dr. Ramon Moronkola; Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr. Ajibade Adebayo; Consultant Cardiac Anaesthetist, Dr. Ikotun O. Aderemi; Head of Critical Care Nurses, Nurse Alonge Lydia; and Cardiac ICU Nurse, Nurse Aina Alake F.
Lydia Ogungbayi, who underwent surgery in December 2025, said she had lived with progressive massive anasarca caused by constrictive pericarditis for five years and nine months before receiving life-changing treatment. “I was finally free,” she said, expressing gratitude to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Abayomi, Ogunyemi, Lajide, Erinosho, Falase and members of the surgical and nursing teams.
She specifically thanked the medical personnel involved in her care, including Dr. Moronkola, Dr. Ajibade, Dr. Musa and Dr. John, as well as other well-meaning Nigerians who supported her treatment. Lydia said the intervention had given her “a brand-new health” and described the government’s response to her plea for assistance as a new chapter in her life.
Other beneficiaries highlighted at the event included Moshood Muritala, 16, who was diagnosed with Transposition of the Great Arteries and eventually underwent cardiac surgery in India, and Ayoife George, three, who was diagnosed with Ventricular Septal Defect and Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction and received surgery at Aster MIMS Calicut Hospital in Kerala, India. The Ministry also disclosed that Mrs. Kajebora, a Lagos State civil servant and patient at LASUTH’s Paediatric Cardiology Unit, benefited from State-funded cardiac surgery for her daughter in India.
The event ended with renewed appreciation for the healthcare and administrative teams that made the interventions possible, alongside a broader call for stronger health financing. Abayomi said Lagos’ long-term goal was to ensure that residents no longer needed to travel abroad for procedures that could be performed locally, while mandatory insurance would help make quality care financially accessible. “We don’t want anybody in Lagos to be plunged into poverty because they got sick,” he said.
