Lagos State has rolled out its new digital overhaul, starting with 100 Primary Healthcare Centres across the state now using Electronic Medical Records (EMR). This is just the opening act in a broader plan to cover all 326 PHCs with smart, secure digital systems.
At a recent workshop organized by the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Special Adviser on Health (Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi) made it clear: this isn’t just about going paperless, it’s about building a smarter, more sustainable health system from the bottom up.
The rollout ties into the state’s Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP), a central, cloud-based system developed in partnership with Interswitch and eClat. Once fully live, SHIP will connect PHCs, hospitals, general hospitals, all the way up to tertiary facilities, letting patient data follow individuals, not paper files.
Dr. Ibrahim Mustapha, Permanent Secretary at the PHC board, flagged these 100 PHCs as a pilot phase—”learning and tweaking” before broader deployment.
He called EMR rollout an important foundation for improving care quality, reducing duplication, and making data-driven decisions easier.
The Early feedback from clinics is promising: fewer delays, better accuracy, and smoother referrals. Dr. Olumide Sojirin at Surulere General Hospital said the digital records have already helped the team analyze disease trends and cut down on errors.