18th June, 2024
By Mary Joseph
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has supervised the signing of a concession agreement for the implementation of the Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP).
SHIP is a digital health technology aimed at providing precise, faster, and smarter healthcare services in all medical facilities, in line with the state’s Health and Environment mandate.
Sanwo-Olu supervised the signing of the agreement on Tuesday at the State House, Marina.
The signing of the Concession Agreement was between the Office of Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the Digital Health Platform Limited ahead of the full deployment of SHIP in the State’s health sector.
Digital Health Platform Limited — a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), comprising Lagos Ministry of Health, Interswitch and eClat — has been appointed to jointly drive the operation of the technology.
He emphasized that SHIP would enable a swift and efficient healthcare delivery system, ensuring widespread access to healthcare across the state.
He said: “We have seen global trend in using technology as a backbone to manage healthcare delivery and to assess changes in lifestyle of the population. We have seen the transformation the technology has brought to banking, transportation and education. Smart Health Information Platform is our own bold step to transform healthcare and ease the cumbersome data processing in our hospitals.
“This transition has taken us about two years of building a robust platform that will secure and protect patients’ data. During this journey, we are able to identify the best partners that will deliver and help us realise our vision for the transformation of services in our hospitals. This is the beginning of full information technology reform in our healthcare system.”
Sanwo-Olu assured the public of full protection of the database, saying there was nothing to worry about in maintaining privacy of the data collected through the platform.
The Governor said data privacy was critical in the process of designing the digital platform, noting that the Ministry of Science and Technology was fully involved in the project and signed off on it before launching.
“As the technology is being rolled out, I believe the State will see the benefits of the decision we are making today. We hope to see how this will strengthen and enhance access to healthcare, enable us to analyse the health needs of the people and guide our interventions in the sector,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, indicated that Lagos State has spent about three years designing a system for the movement of medical data across hospitals in the state.
He added that the health sector is huge, and therefore, they would be applying modern technology and artificial intelligence to collect and generate data.
Abayomi further listed the advantages of SHIP, to include the movement of health information appropriately to the right people, speeding up the process of giving care to Lagos citizens, analyzing critical data metrics and generating reports to enhance the prevention and control of diseases.
Others included identifying trendy purchasing power in pharmacies, and adopting international advances in health.
He noted that this digital transformation would also enable the state to track disease outbreaks in real-time, ensuring a more rapid and effective response to potential health crises.
Managing Director of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, said the solution would not only allow free flow of data from one health institution to another, it would also provide seamless payment options for patients.
He assured that the platform would not compromise data of patients and other information stored on it, saying: “This partnership is something we won’t take with levity.”