Ondo State Government on Thursday sealed off eight private health facilities in the state for various offences which include failure to revalidate or register the facilities.
The Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, who ordered the closure of the facilities while monitoring the health facilities in the state said the exercise was carried out to flush out quackery in the sector.
Apart from the eight facilities, the commissioner warned seven others to comply with the rules of the practice, warning them against unprofessional conducts.
Reading riot act to the operators of private health facilities in the state, the commissioner said the government will no longer allow anybody who is not ready to comply with the rules of the game to operate in the state.
According to him, one of the sealed hospital, Phobia Hospital, in Ore, headquarters of Odigbo Local Government Area of the state is being operated by a traditional medicine practitioner.
He said: “the operator who was a traditional medicine practitioner was said to be admitting and treating patients in an orthodox way, endangering the lives of unsuspecting patients.
“The owner of the centre fled the hospital immediately he saw a member of the team to avoid being arrested by the team and the police.
“Apart from this, we also sealed off some centres operated by quacks and auxiliary nurses, a practice which professionals medical bodies and the government are against.”
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Adegbenro frowned at unprofessional conducts of some of the hospitals visited, saying the government would not allow quackery to thrive in the state’s health sector.
He said the government was not out to victimise or send anyone out of business but to ensure that minimum standards are put in place by healthcare providers to avoid jeopardising the lives of patients.
He advised operators of health facilities to employ a certified professional from the accredited institution while he called on the members of the public not to patronise hospitals not accredited by government
He said this is one of the steps and efforts of the state government towards safeguarding the health of the people of the state and to ensure they get minimum standard health services.
Also speaking, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Dipo Durojaye said the government was ready to provide all the needed support to flush out quackery in the sector.
The Director Hospital Services, Dr Richard Adesoji who led the team to most of the facilities visited, raised alarm about the rate of quackery in the State.
Adesoji said many of the facilities visited are not registered and those registered are not renewing their licenses.
He advised those that want to open health facilities to visit the ministry and start on the right note, warning that the government will not rest on its oars until the state is ridden of quacks.
Some of the sealed hospitals include Phobia Medical Center, Tommydex Specialist Hospital, Pima Annex Clinic, Ndubisi Hospital, Oluyemi Hospital, White community clinic, among others