16th May, 2015
The Nasarawa State Ministry of Health Inspectorate Unit, has shut 126 illegal health facilities in Karu Local Government Area of the state.
Dr Thomas Affi, the leader of the team, said that the action was to check the activities of quacks in the health sector.
Affi who spoke after an inspection tour of private health establishments in Karu, said there was need to check quackery in the health sector.
Affi who is the Director of Clinical Service in the ministry, noted that the activities of quacks had negatively affected the health needs of many people.
He said the exercise was not meant to ensure that ethnical practices were observed, and to identify registered and unregistered clinics and hospitals in the state.
Affi added that the tour was embarked upon for the benefit of the people.
“His Excellency, Gov.Tanko Al-Makura and the Commissioner of Health, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, have empowered us to embark on the exercise in order to tackle quackery, unhealthy practices in order to safeguard the lives of Nigerians.
“We began this exercise in March in Karu, we covered a total of 112 clinics and hospitals out of which only 16 clinics have their operational licenses, while 96 are operating illegally and were immediately closed down.
“We continued on Monday, May 11, and we discovered 30 new illegal clinics and hospitals, they were also closed down immediately, bringing the total to 126 that were shut in Karu Local Government Area.
“After thorough investigation, we discovered that these 126 clinics and hospitals have not done formal registration and have no operational licence” he said.
Affi said that the state government appreciated the contribution of the private health establishments in the state, but said the right things must be done to sanitise the sector.