Lagos lawmaker offers free health insurance

By Asishana John

Member representing Surulere State Constituency 1, Desmond Elliot, has rolled out a free health insurance scheme for residents of Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State.

During the launch, the lawmaker said the programme, targeted at 1,000 residents, would take off with 250 persons in the first phase.

He said the idea behind not taking 1,000 residents at once was to see how effective the preferred medical centres would be, and also to prevent a situation where too many people would have to struggle to get health services from the two centres.

“I don’t want to pack too many people and they are disenfranchised. We want to see how Goxi and Toptea medical centres will be able to attend to the people. Once their services are confirmed to be effective, another 250 people would be added before March 2022.”

He said it is open to any resident in Surulere, irrespective of tribe, religion or party affiliation.

Chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC), Surulere Local Government Area, which comprises 56 CDAs, Wemimo Odumosu, said the idea was conceived following the outbreak of COVID-19, which claimed the lives of a couple of their members.

He said the programme is mainly targeted at the aged, widows, less privileged and community members, who cannot afford to pay for health services.

He thanked Elliot for the kind gesture, saying the programme was the first of its kind in Lagos State.

Representative of Goxi Micro-insurance also commended the lawmaker, saying if other public officers could emulate him, Nigeria would be a better place in no distant time.