The Anambra State Government has commenced training for its taskforce team to monitor hospitals and curb operations of quack doctors in the state. The three-day training was organized by the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National Agency for the Control of AIDS under the Resilient and Sustainable System for Health initiative of the state government. Dr Afam Obidike, the state Commissioner for Health, at the opening of the training on Thursday in Awka said that many hospitals in the rural areas were ran by quacks and secondary school drop-outs.
He harped on the need to improve on healthcare service delivery in both public and private health facilities, as well as to protect the health of residents. “Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s administration set up this taskforce for the continuous monitoring, supervision and strategic means of identifying quacks and fake hospitals in the state.
“It is sad to note that many of those who operate health facilities, especially in the rural areas, are not medical personnel while some are secondary school drop-outs. “We have sealed up many hospitals where quacks operate because their operations endanger the lives of residents.
“This capacity training is to strengthen the taskforce to improve healthcare delivery and not to witch-hunt. It is so that our people receive quality care as well as have trust in the healthcare system of the state,” he said. The commissioner urged residents to stop patronizing quack doctors but report any illegal or unaccredited hospitals operating in their areas.
“Report them to us, we promise not to reveal your identity and we will fish them out so as to save the lives of our people especially those in the rural areas,” he said. Obidike said the state government would establish the State Health Facility Monitoring Accreditation Unit in 2024 to facilitate proper accreditation and monitoring of hospitals.
In his remarks, Dr Charles Okafor, a facilitator, said monitoring of health facilities was essential to ensuring improved quality healthcare delivery to residents of the state the participants were drawn from members of the Nigerian Medical Association, Civil Society Organisations, Association of Private Medical Practitioners, Association of Optometrists and other health workers.
