HEFAMAA Seals 10 Health Facilities For Non-Compliance In April

The Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA, has sealed up 10 health facilities across the State in April 2021.

 

The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr. Abiola Idowu, disclosed this at Alausa, Ikeja weekend , during a review of the activities of the Agency in April 2021, explaining that the facilities were sealed for quackery, lack of qualified medical personnel, training of auxiliary nurses and non-registration, adding that a total of 194 health facilities were monitored in the month under review.

 

She explained that the key criteria of the Agency’s monitoring and inspection activities centre on the qualification of the personnel, the operations and processes of the facility, its environment, standard of equipment as well as compliance with standards and quality of services rendered.

 

While advising owners and operators of health facilities to take cognisance of the criteria and carry out their operations following set standards, the Executive Secretary stated that all new or intending operators must register with the Agency, through its website, hefamaa.lagosstate.gov.ng before commencing medical practice, noting that existing registered operators should ensure prompt renewal of their certificates to avoid being sanctioned.

 

She, however, called on members of the public to continue supporting and cooperating with the State Government in its fight against quackery and illegal operation of facilities by reporting those behind such acts to the Agency to safeguard the health and well-being of the citizenry.

 

“I will advise Lagosians to be cautious and desist from patronising uncertified service providers and if you suspect foul play or notice illegal operations in your community, do not hesitate to contact HEFAMAA for prompt action”, she stated.

 

Idowu reaffirmed the commitment of the Agency in supporting the vision of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration to achieve the delivery of accessible, affordable and quality healthcare to the residents of Lagos State.

 

On the performance of the Health Facility Inspection Tool (Health-FIT) currently in use for the assessment of health facilities for Quality Assurance in the State, the Executive Secretary revealed that the tool is performing well, saying “over 120 health facilities were captured using the application in April alone”.

 

She stated that the Agency recently organised a one-day capacity building training for its Monitoring Staff to facilitate a clear understanding of the scoring methodology of the Health-FIT electronic tool.

 

According to the HEFAMAA boss, the training was aimed at enabling the Agency carry out the ranking of the various categories of health facilities based on their aggregate scores, give feedback to monitored health facilities on the sections where they need to improve and organise training programmes for health facility owners in areas and sections where they scored low.

 

The programme, held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alausa, Ikeja, was well attended with presentations delivered on the Overview of the Health-FIT Tool by Dr. Daniel Olayinka; Head, Monitoring, HEFAMAA and also on Scoring Methodology and Ranking of Health Facilities by Dr. Ademola Serrano of Pharm Access Foundation.