Sterling Bank, LASHMA Expand Healthcare In Lagos With Virtual Booth

<h4>Sterling Bank<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that one of Africa’s fastest-growing companies and Nigeria’s leading financial institution&comma; Sterling Bank&comma; has joined forces with the Lagos State Government to expand the reach of its health care provision with the launch of the Ilera Eko Virtual Booth&comma; designed to bring healthcare closer to the people and expand the reach of its health insurance scheme&semi; Ilera Eko&comma; across the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This announcement was made by Mr&period; Obinna Ukachukwu&comma; Divisional Head of Business Growth at Sterling Bank&comma; during the inaugural Lagos State Insurance Summit held in Lagos recently&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said the bank and the Lagos State Health Management Agency&semi; LASHMA plans to leverage technology to bring health these insurance booths to where most of the informal sector work&comma; thus expanding the reach of healthcare services to residents of the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He noted that most residents earn daily pay from their trade locations&comma; making it difficult for them to leave and go to the clinic when sick&comma; hence the need for these first-line health services in various informal business clusters around the state&period; He remarked that LASHMA is very solutionleaning in its approach to healthcare distribution&comma; hence this project became a reality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He added that the bank will finance the building of all the booths and provide resources to aid their management&period; Lagos State Governor&comma; Mr&period; Babajide Sanwo-Olu&comma; delivered a keynote address at the event&comma; urging stakeholders to align with the National Health Insurance Authority Act and ensure compliance with the Lagos State Health Scheme law&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The governor&comma; represented by the Permanent Secretary&comma; of Lagos State Ministry of Health&comma; Dr&period; Olusegun Ogboye said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;These services include a full range of essential health services&comma; from health promotion to prevention&comma; treatment&comma; rehabilitation and palliative care&period; This is one of the major goals of the health and environment pillar of the T&period;H&period;E&period;M&period;E&period;S&plus; agenda&comma; with the &OpenCurlyQuote;plus’ representing the incorporation of an intensified focus on social inclusion&comma; gender equality and youth development in these next four years&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Governor Sanwo-Olu continued by saying that about 300 of the unveiled booths will be strategically placed&comma; in locations across Lagos State&comma; and virtual access to doctors will be provided using telemedicine for consultations and diagnosis&comma; with prescriptions to be taken to the nearest community pharmacy where the medication will be dispensed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In her welcome address&comma; the Permanent Secretary&comma; LASHMA&comma; Dr&period; Emmanuella Zamba&comma; stated that the Summit will serve as a critical platform for exchanging ideas and fostering innovation towards achieving universal healthcare coverage in the state&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dr&period; Zamba expressed how the agency worked tirelessly over the last three years to create structures and operationalise the social health plan as part of strategies geared towards achieving universal healthcare<br &sol;>&NewLine;coverage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Chairman of LASHMA Governing Board&comma; Dr&period; Adebayo Adedewe remarked that establishing the Lagos State Health Scheme is a step in the right direction and an ideal model to ensure Lagosians have access to quality and affordable healthcare services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The partnership between Sterling Bank and the Lagos State Government is a crucial step towards achieving Universal Health Coverage&comma; ensuring essential healthcare services are accessible to all citizens&comma; and improving the overall quality of life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Renowned for its now famous HEART of Sterling strategy&semi; which focuses primary investments in the Health&comma; Education&comma; Agriculture&comma; Renewable Energy and Transportation sectors of the Nigerian economy&comma; its irreverent brand voice and enviable talent management practices&comma; the bank has maintained and increased momentum in 2023 with her citation as Africa’s Most Valuable Commercial Bank Brand for 2023 by the African Brand Magazine&comma; in a poll conducted by GeoPoll and Kantar&semi; two of the world’s leading brand research firms&comma; a top three employer in Nigeria by LinkedIn in the social network’s annual Top 25 List&comma; and most recently&comma; one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in Africa by the prestigious Financial Times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;