Lagos State Government has renewed its commitment to strengthening patient safety in the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with stakeholders calling for stronger regulation, clinical governance, medication safety and continuity of care to reduce avoidable harm to patients.

Speaking at the 2026 World Patient Safety Day commemoration organised by the Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), held at NECA House, Alausa-Ikeja, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Kemi Ogunyemi, said people living with hypertension, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, sickle cell disease and chronic respiratory conditions required care that was not only accessible and effective but consistently safe throughout their lifetime.

Ogunyemi said NCD management involved repeated consultations, diagnostic investigations, medication use, referrals, follow-up and long-term lifestyle modification, creating multiple points where patients could either receive good care or suffer avoidable harm. “That is why patient safety must remain a fundamental component of healthcare delivery in Lagos State,” she said.

She disclosed that the State had strengthened its clinical governance architecture with the inauguration of the Lagos State Task Force on Clinical Governance and Patient Safety, mandated to develop a statewide framework, establish minimum safety standards, strengthen incident reporting and learning, improve complaints and redress mechanisms, and develop quality and patient-safety indicators. She also identified diagnostic safety, medication safety, referral systems, continuity of care and patient-provider communication as critical areas requiring sustained attention.

The Special Adviser said the State was also leveraging digital health systems to promote continuity of care, noting that the Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP), which had been launched, was expected to support better coordination and information flow across the health system. She urged stakeholders to make patient engagement central to healthcare delivery, stressing that “an informed patient is not merely a recipient of healthcare. The patient is a partner in safe care.”

Also speaking, the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Health, Hon. Musbau Aina Lawal, called for stronger health systems and effective regulation to ensure safe, accessible and quality care for people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). He said conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and sickle cell disease require continuous and long-term management, making patient safety critical to protecting lives and improving health outcomes.

Lawal stressed that safe care “does not happen by chance,” noting that it requires strong health systems, competent and ethical healthcare professionals, reliable medicines and equipment, effective referral mechanisms, accurate information and meaningful patient participation. He described patient safety as a shared responsibility, urging government to provide the necessary policies, legislation and regulatory framework, while healthcare providers uphold professional standards and accountability, and patients and communities are adequately informed and empowered to participate in decisions concerning their healthcare.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dayo Lajide, said a strong health system remained the foundation for safe and quality healthcare, requiring adequate infrastructure, qualified personnel, functional equipment, essential medicines, reliable records and effective clinical protocols. She stressed that limited human and financial resources made it necessary for existing systems to work more efficiently.

Lajide said regulation must go beyond identifying non-compliance to actively driving improvement, calling for closer collaboration among regulators, healthcare facilities, professional bodies and providers. “Quality and safety” should be treated as the responsibility of healthcare providers themselves rather than something merely imposed by regulators, she said.

The Chairman, HEFAMAA Board, Dr. Yemisi Solanke-Koya, said the 2026 commemoration was particularly significant as it coincided with the agency’s 20th anniversary, describing the milestone as an opportunity to reflect on its regulatory journey and the work still required to guarantee safe and quality healthcare in Lagos State.

Solanke-Koya said HEFAMAA, established in 2006, had evolved beyond inspection to encompass registration, monitoring, accreditation, licensing, enforcement and quality improvement. She noted that the changing healthcare environment required the agency to become increasingly innovative, data-driven and risk-based, stressing that “a regulator that stops evolving stops being relevant to the system it regulates.”

The Executive Secretary, HEFAMAA, Dr. Victoria Egunjobi, said the agency’s 20-year journey had remained anchored on promoting standards, quality and safety across healthcare facilities in Lagos State. She noted that regulation was not an end in itself but a means of ensuring that patients received care that was safe, effective and delivered with dignity.

Egunjobi said HEFAMAA would continue to pursue a proactive, risk-based and data-driven regulatory system while working with healthcare providers, government institutions, professional bodies, development partners and patients to close safety gaps, strengthen accountability and drive quality improvement. She urged stakeholders to view the anniversary as “a renewed commitment to what comes next,” with patient dignity, respect and compassion remaining central to healthcare delivery.

The keynote speaker and Consultant Nephrologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr. Ajibola Sanda, said safe NCD care required coordinated action from patients, healthcare providers and government, particularly because chronic diseases created repeated opportunities for harm throughout the care journey. He identified late detection, medication-related harm, poor follow-up and communication failures as major safety gaps requiring urgent attention.

Sanda called for early screening, correct diagnosis, medication reconciliation, appropriate referrals, effective follow-up and patient education, while urging healthcare providers to communicate in language patients could understand. He also advocated a learning culture in which reported errors and near misses were used to identify system weaknesses and prevent recurrence rather than focusing only on punishment.

Representing the World Health Organization State Representative, Dr. Chineye Okafor, the Cluster Supervisor, Dr. Opeyemi Ogundinmu, commended the Lagos State Government and HEFAMAA for their continued efforts to improve healthcare quality and safety. He said NCD patients often faced complex and prolonged care involving multiple providers and therefore remained vulnerable to diagnostic delays, medication errors, fragmented services and other safety risks.

Ogundinmu said WHO remained committed to supporting Lagos State in strengthening patient safety systems and evidence-based NCD care. He noted that initiatives including clinical governance reforms, healthcare-worker education, digital health records, health insurance reforms and measures to strengthen safe blood access could contribute to safer diagnosis, treatment, referral, documentation and follow-up.

During a panel session moderated by Dr. Olajide Sobande, experts including Dr. Monisola Adanijo, Dr. Japhet Olugbogi, Dr. Omolola Salako, Pharm. Solape Adenuga and Nurse Aisha Babatunde identified frontline care, patient education, medication safety, effective referrals and continuous professional development as key components of safe NCD care. They advocated a non-blaming “just culture” that encourages reporting, investigation and learning from errors.

The panel also highlighted the need for multidisciplinary approaches to cancer care, stronger medication reconciliation, improved triage, clear communication and better follow-up systems. They stressed that patients taking multiple medicines should disclose all prescribed, over-the-counter and other products to healthcare providers to reduce the risks of drug interactions, duplication and adverse reactions.

In the “Patient Voices: Have I Received Safe Care?” session moderated by Dr. Noimot Abisola Balogun, people living with chronic conditions shared their experiences of navigating healthcare services and highlighted the importance of affordability, access to quality medicines, respectful communication, continuity of care and patient education. One participant living with diabetes for 26 years rated her experience with the Lagos State healthcare system at about 70 per cent, while acknowledging areas requiring improvement.

The patient voices session further called for stronger use of digital health records to reduce fragmentation when patients move between facilities and providers, with SHIP identified as a potential platform for improving continuity of care. Participants also advocated stronger support groups, pharmacovigilance, healthcare-worker training and holistic patient-centred care, reinforcing the message of the 2026 World Patient Safety Day: “Safe Care for Non-Communicable Diseases” – “Safe Care for Life.”

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