Ogun seals four private hospitals, reads riot act to others

By Jumoke AdeogunAbeokuta

The Ogun State Government has sealed four hospitals in the State for various infractions, warning owners of private facilities to uphold the expected standard of practice required by law or face strict sanctions. 

The sealed hospitals include Ise Oluwa Hospital, Obada, Rainmond Hospital, Papalanto, Divine Glory Hospital, Papalanto, and Ise Oluwa Hospital Annex, Papalanto. 

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, during a monitoring and compliance exercise, revealed that the move was informed by one unprofessional doctor's prescription in the social media space, which states "No Heartbit. The body system is Normal" that allegedly emanated from Ise Oluwa Hospital, Obada a few days ago. 

Coker, who was represented by the Director, Hospital Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Solomon Sokunbi,  expressed her dissatisfaction over this unprofessional medical report which connotes quackery as far as medical practice is concerned, saying such practice will not be tolerated in Ogun State. 

She noted that the said facility had been traced and sealed accordingly alongside some other three for lack of qualified medical staff, non-registration of the premises, medical negligence, and unhygienic hospital environment among other offenses. 

Coker said that human life is precious and must not be toyed with, adding that the health of residents irrespective of class is important to the present administration in Ogun State.

According to her, the State Government's goal of achieving universal health coverage could not be realized without the involvement of the private sector, but things must be done in line with global best practices. 

She said private medical practitioners are free to walk into the ministry to find out the criteria for registration of their health facilities, saying the process will ensure that only qualified staff are employed to treat residents of the State. 

"In Ogun State, we have rules and regulations guiding the registration of health facilities. As such, whenever our monitoring team discovers that a hospital has deviated from the regulations, we have no choice but to close it down. This is one of our measures to ensure that no life is lost due to the activities of quacks. 

"We have categorized facilities into A for doctors, B for nurses, C for laboratories, D for mortuaries, and E and F for others. I want to remind private practitioners that the business of providing medical care to our people must be done in line with the minimum standard. They must continually monitor activities of their facilities even after registration to prevent deviation from the expected standards", she said. 

The Commissioner warned that owners of hospitals, clinics, medical laboratories, and other medical facilities operating without full approval of the Ogun State Government risked closure of their facilities, fine, and possible legal action. 

She assured that the exercise would be a continuous process aimed at ensuring that quackery and untoward sharp practices in the medical profession are reduced to the barest minimum across the State.