Posted by By Kazeem Ugbodaga on
The Lagos state government has renewed its onslaught against illegal hospitals and medical diagnostic centres by shutting down four hospitals, a diagnostic centre and a pharmacy.
The Lagos state government has renewed its onslaught against illegal hospitals and medical diagnostic centres by shutting down four hospitals, a diagnostic centre and a pharmacy.
The illegal medical centres were shut down yesterday, by officials of the Lagos state government Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), led by its chairman, Dr. Bambo Oyekan.
The officials stormed the affected hospitals and others, at Abule-Egba, Ijaiye, Meiran and Agege, unannounced and shut them down. The facilities shut down include Olaoluwa Medical Clinic (Convalescent Centre), Owode Street, Abule-Egba; Bepo Exact Medical Diagnostics, Ijaiye; Ebenezer Faith Medical Centre and Maternity Home, Powerline, Oke-Oja, Kollington Bus Stop; Mankind's Medical Centre, Meiran and a pharmaceutical supermarket at Agege.
Olaoluwa Medical Clinic, Abule-Egba, and Mankind's Medical Centre were shut for harbouring auxiliary nurses and without a single qualified nurse. Auxiliary nurses were found to be heading the nursing unit in the hospitals, as well as training of other nurses. The proprietor of Olaoluwa Medical Clinic, P.M.News gathered, works at Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital.
Executive Secretary, HEFAMAA, Dr. Bolaji Akinrimisi, said Olaoluwa Medical Centre was registered, and that it was shut because it failed to abide by the standards approved for medical practice in the state. He added that all the hospitals shut were warned on more than two occassions of the consequences of breaching the standards of medical practice in the state.
Bepo Exact Medical Diagnostic Centre was shut because the centre carried out embalment services, contrary to medical practice. Oyekan described this as 'quackery.'
The pharmacy at Agege was shut for advertising for qualified nurses and administering treatment on patients, despite the fact that it was not registered as a hospital.
Some hospitals, such as Eagle Hospital, Ifako-Ijaiye; St. Emmanuel's, Ifako-Ijaiye; Wisdom Eye Care and Meiran Hospitals Limited, were warned and urged to brace up or face the music.
Oyekan explained that many doctors were bastardising the medical profession by recruiting auxiliary nurses and using them to carry out services only qualified nurses could do, thus, bringing the profession into disrepute and endangering the lives of innocent Lagosians.
'Some of the trained auxiliary nurses now go out and establish their own outfits. They will claim to be professionals. This does not help matters as they breed quacks.
'We at HEFAMAA found out that lives are being lost and people's lives are no longer safe. So, we felt we should close them down. HEFAMAA will not allow them to operate without adequate staff,' he stated. Oyekan appealed to Lagosians not to risk their lives by patronising unqualified medical personnel, adding that they should rather go to government hospitals for adequate medical treatment.