OGSG moves against quackery in healthcare delivery, wants revalidation of medical facilities

Apparently disturbed by increasing quackery and sub-standard medical facilities springing up across state, the Ogun state government has ordered all owners of Private Health Facilities in the state to revalidate and register their facilities with the Department of Hospital Services in the State Ministry of Health in order for them to have smooth operations.

Speaking through a press release signed by Ebunlomo Taiyese, press officer of the ministry, the Commissioner for Health, Babatunde Ipaye, declared that government had to take quick steps, which order the operators and private medical facilities across the state, to revalidate their medical status and facilities in order to ensure sanity and eradicate quackery in Health Sector.

The Commissioner directed all Medical Centres, Maternity Homes, Medical Laboratories, Diagnostic Centres, Physiotherapist Clinic, Mortuaries and Alternative Medicines Practitioners across the state to revalidate their facilities on or before 31st March 2016, warning the State government would wield big sticks on whoever practitioners and whichever facilities that flout the directive.

According to the release, the exercise is to ensure proper monitoring, quality assurance and regulation of practice of medical professionals in both public and private sectors, adding that the exercise also seeks to screen out all unqualified persons that had fraudulently registered and are running private health facilities in and around the state.

The release also said that Continued Medical Education (CME) would be organized to update the professionals like Doctors, Nurses, Midwives and Medical Laboratory Scientists operating private health facilities the state as government would ensure effective medical practice that improves healthy living and well being of every resident.

The Commissioner added that “the State government will strictly disallow proxy registration of facilities by Doctors and registered Nurses for non-qualified persons, while Doctors who are not Consultants and with less than 10 years post medicine practice, will not be allowed to register and operate private medical facilities in the state.”

RAZAQ AYINLA