Lagos And Interswitch Sign Deal For Smart Health Information Platform. Here’s Why It Matters

Lagos State and Interswitch have signed a deal for the Smart Health Information Platform.

Eko Hot Blog reports that Lagos State’s health sector is set for a revolution with the introduction of the Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP) to transform data transmission and management across all state-owned healthcare facilities.

The Lagos State Office of Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the Digital Health Platform Limited signed the Concession Agreement on Tuesday 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.

The highly secure digital cloud is a Lagos State Government-led effort designed in collaboration with eClat, a health technology company, and Interswitch Limited, to create a backbone for seamless movement of patients’ data and to enhance digital transformation in the state’s healthcare.

The digital system will eliminate loose data sharing and transmission through manual systems, while providing improved protection and privacy for patients’ data.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who supervised the signing of the agreement, described the innovation as “transformational step” in simplifying data collection and usage in the health sector.

He stressed that the state government made a “bold move” in leveraging technology to enable efficient health delivery.

The innovation, the governor said, would enable proper allocation of resources and empower decision makers to analyse and evaluate the impact of interventions in the sector.

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.

On his part, Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, said the State-owned General Hospitals alone generated 7 million contact data, aside data collected by Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), tertiary health institutions and private hospitals.

Managing the data, the commissioner said, requires a robust digital infrastructure that would enable elimination of repetition and errors in data collection.

Abayomi said the SHIP would also empower the government to plan and coordinate health services across all levels.

Also, Group 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.”

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