126 illegal health centres shut down

dimeji akinloye

May 17, 2015 11:02 AM

Government said the exercise was meant to identify registered and unregistered clinics and hospitals in the state.

Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Almakura

The Inspectorate Unit of the Nasarawa State Ministry of health said it has shut down 126 illegal health facilities in some areas of the state.

The facilities were located in Karu Local Government.

Speaking after an inspection tour of private health centres in Karu, the team leader Dr. Thomas Affi said it has become imperative to rid the health sector of quack practitioners.

He said the exercise was meant to identify registered and unregistered clinics and hospitals in the state.

“His Excellency, Governor Tanko Al-Makura and the Commissioner for 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.

dimeji akinloye