Lagos shuts 13 hospitals over quackery
The Lagos State Government on Monday said it has shut 13 health facilities across the state over quackery.
The government also vowed to clampdown on more hospitals in order to guarantee safety of lives of the residents.
Speaking at the 8th stakeholders meeting of the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA activities, held at the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Monday, Executive Secretary of HEFAMAA, Dr Mabel Adjekughele, said that out of the 463 health facilities inspected by the agency recently, 13 of them were shut over non-compliance with the regulatory standard.
According to her, the number of petitions received by the agency had also increased to 22, attributing the rise in the petitions to the increased awareness among the residents and the demand for quality health services by the health care providers.
Adjekughele urged residents to assist the government by exposing other substandard facilities, saying that the facilities were shut as a result of quack practice, use of unqualified and uncertified personnel, and practicing beyond schedule.
She also said that in the face of seeming insurmountable challenges, the agency had been able to detect fake medical personnel certificates through verification by the professionals regulatory bodies, reduce quacks as well as sanctioning erring facilities through fines and setting time frame for improvement.
Adjekughele added that the objectives of the agency were to ensure that all health facilities in the state were duly registered and were operated by qualified health personnel, as well as have adequate and appropriate equipment to operate and provide quality services in line with the set minimum standards.
She said certain strategy adopted by the agency to ensure that noticeable improvement was achieved in quality health service included surveillance and continuous monitoring of health facilities in the state, sanctioning of health facilities that were unsuitable or did not comply with the set standard, among others.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr Olufemi Onanuga said that health facilities monitoring would be intensified by the agency with a view to possibly eradicating quackery.
The special adviser said the current administration was interested in excellence as only hospitals with excellent facilities would be allowed to operate in the state.