By Gbenga Salau

Lagos partners eight firms to check quackery in hospitals, ensure standard

Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has said that more than 150 nurses resigned their appointments with the tertiary hospital within the last three years.

Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, who stated this, yesterday, during a media briefing in Lagos, said the situation arose as a result of health workers relocating abroad to practise, noting that the exit replacement strategy of the government had, however, ensured that operations weren’t disrupted at the hospital.

He added that applications for positions of nurses and resident doctors had reduced in the hospital.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Fabamwo said the hospital now recruits double qualified nurses and also engaged some retired but not tired nurses on contract basis to bridge the gaps.

The LASUTH CMD, who spoke on the issue of bed space management, said that the hospital was using a team of nurses called ‘monitoring crew’ to ensure speedy transfer of stable patients from emergency units to wards.

Fabamwo said that the ongoing construction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) building with a 120-bed capacity in the hospital was at 90 per cent completion stage.

He said that the SDG building would alleviate the issue of bed space constriction, enhance critical care services and assist to reduce medical tourism.

On the issue of Solomon Oriere, who allegedly sold COVID-19 vaccination cards without inoculation, Fabamwo said the impostor was not a worker of LASUTH.

He said Oriere had been arrested and is currently in police custody, adding that the public would be kept abreast of the findings of the investigation.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts aimed at checking needless deaths from quackery in the health sector, Lagos State government, through its Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), has appointed eight private organisations to monitor compliance of health facilities with standards across the state.

The agency’s Board Chairman, Dr. Yemisi Solanke-Koya, who spoke at a media briefing, yesterday, said that the outsourcing of the monitoring for compliance by the organisations, which had all signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), would commence immediately and be for six months of a pilot phase with the intent to review the process at the end of June 2023.

She said that the objective is to increase the monitoring coverage for health facilities to improve quality of healthcare delivery to residents of the state.

According to Solanke-Koya, the private organisations were selected after due procurement process, with the organisations monitoring both public and private health facilities in the assigned local councils.

She said that to ensure that the franchises live up to expectations, a comprehensive three-day training was organised for them by the agency.

Also, the Executive Secretary of the agency, Abiola Idowu, enjoined hospitals across the state to access the health facility inspection tool on the website to do self assessment and upgrade their operations as HEFAAMA’s officers continue to work with the private organisations.

Idowu urged the franchise companies to continue to uphold and maintain the image of the agency to enhance efficient service delivery and that the public should report illegal operation or unprofessional conduct to the agency for prompt action.