NAN-H-26
Quackery
By Olanrewaju Akojede/Okuanwan Offiong
Lagos, Jan. 27, 2017 (NAN) the Lagos State Government (LASG) through its Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) has sealed Empire Medical Centre located at 10, Soyebo Str., Ikorodu.
The agency also arrested the proprietor of the facility, Mr Onumoh Eleazer, for offences bordering on quackery.
The Director, Public Affairs in the State’s Ministry of Health, Adeola Salako, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr. Onumoh Eleazar, was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command on Monday, for allegedly performing surgical operations on some residents of the state without a certificate or a licence from the authorized establishments or organisations .
The culprit who had a rented apartment at Soyebo Street, Ikorodu, had practised for a while before he was nabbed by HEFAMAA officials on Monday.
According to the statement, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, said, “We have received reports from concerned and well-meaning citizens and carried out a thorough investigation.
“The report indicated that the proprietor in charge of the facility performs surgical procedures on innocent and unsuspecting patients without a certificate and a practising licence.
“The culprit, Mr Onumoh Eleazer, had recently performed surgical operations on three out of the seven patients admitted to his facility before HEFAMAA arrested him and shut down the facility.
“All patients found there had been transferred to the General Hospital, Ikorodu for proper management,’’ he said.
It added that Onumoh Eleazer claimed to have studied Medicine in the Dominican Republic but could not collect his certificate for financial reasons.
The statement also quoted the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, as saying, “The exercise is being carried out by the agency.
“It is to regulate and sanitise the operations of health facilities within the state and ensure that quackery is totally eradicated in the health sector.’’
He said that the state did not tolerate quackery and that Eleazer would be punished according to the laws of the land.
Also, the commissioner frowned at how health care providers had been training auxiliary assistants in their clinics, it said.
“Many of them have been recruiting auxiliary nurses and unqualified personnel; this endangers the lives of innocent people who unknowingly patronise these health facilities.
“The ugly trend has now degenerated to a state where some of the so-called trained auxiliary nurses and unqualified assistants now go out and establish their own outfits.
“They also claim to be professionals and in turn breed other quacks; such a trend can lead to a long chain of terrible consequences for the health sector if not decisively addressed.
“Lagos State Government is strongly determined to put a halt to this ugly trend of having unqualified personnel work in health facilities, be it private or public.
“Government will continue to insist that the environment for the dispensation of medical care should be suitable for the promotion and maintenance of good health and we will ensure that,’’ Idris said.
The commissioner also cautioned registered health facilities who practise beyond the scope or schedule for which they are registered.
A situation where a health facility which, for example, was registered as a Maternity Home, engages in activities beyond the schedule of a maternity home would not be accepted.
“HEFAMAA is intensifying its monitoring activities and any facilities found wanting in any area of qualitative health care delivery will be sanctioned accordingly.
“Any erring health care providers found wanting will be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“There is the need for all operators of health facilities in Lagos State to ensure that such facilities are duly registered and manned by qualified health personnel.
“They should ensure the annual licensing of all professionals working in their facilities; enforce the availability and use of adequate and appropriate instruments and equipment in their health facilities,’’ Idris said in the statement.
The commissioner advised members of the public not to patronise any health facility that does not display the HEFAMAA logo.
It urged members of the public to channel complaints, petitions and unprofessional conducts by health care providers to the HEFAMAA Office at Room 514, Ministry of Health, Alausa, Ikeja. (NAN)
KOJE/OKU/VIV/PAD
=================
Edited by Vivian Ihechu, Peter Dada