Oyo State Government has announced that private health facilities caught operating with unqualified personnel in the State would be shut down with immediate effect.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oluwaserimi Ajetunmobi stated this in a separate meeting with the Executives of Clinics and Maternity Proprietors and Proprietress Association of Nigeria (CAMPPAN), Oyo State branch and the stakeholders in the private healthcare industries, held at the Conference Room of the Ministry.
According to her, valuable lives are constantly being lost to quackery practices, hence the need to call the relevant bodies into order for proper regulations among their members.
The Commissioner reiterated that hospitals without qualified personnel constitute a danger to the society adding, “Therefore, any private hospital operating in the State without qualified personnel will be shut down.”
Ajetunmobi explained that hospital owners who are not in the medical line must have a qualified doctor on the ground with an up-to-date Annual Practicing License and other staff must also have their registration up to date.
She noted that anyone practising with an expired license is regarded as a quack; therefore, such hospitals would not be spared from the wrath of the government adding, “We need to do this in the interest of our people.”
The Commissioner equally urged the private hospital owners to stay within their limits, adding that going beyond their scope and jurisdiction is also a form of quackery practice that is strongly frowned upon. “Clinics are not meant for admission of patients but for observation and onward referrals, they should not do the work of hospitals”, she addded.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Akintunde Ayinde, reiterated that the quality of health treatment received by the people is paramount to the government; therefore, the people establishing hospitals without the appropriate qualifications would face appropriate sanction.
Akintunde, therefore, urged relevant bodies to work with the government to fish out the bad eggs among them to reduce quackery and malpractices in the state.
In their separate remarks, the representatives of the associations promised to cooperate with the government to achieve their goals of fighting quackery in the state.
Present at the meeting were directors from the Ministry led by the Director of Secondary Health Care and Training, Dr. Adekunle Aremu, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Oyo State Anti-quackery Committee.
