The Rivers State Government has warned religious bodies and organisations against carrying out any form of medical outreach without the approval of the State Ministry of Health.
The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, handed down the warning during a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Monday.
This is as Dr Oreh disclosed that two hospitals and a spa in the state have been sealed for operating without registration and unprofessional conduct.
She expressed dismay that despite previous calls on any group or organisation planning medical outreach anywhere. (In health facilities or communities) to notify the ministry for written approval, but some refused to heed the call.
The commissioner said, “So this briefing is to put the general public on notice that no Non-Governmental Organization, no private or corporate body, no Church, Mosque or religious group, individual, philanthropist, private Hospital or any entity whatsoever should organise any so-called free or even paid medical outreach without written permission from the Rivers State Ministry of Health.
“We have received information from different quarters about outreaches that we had no idea about here formally at the State Ministry of Health.
“It once again brings me to the vulnerability of people who access healthcare services of any kind.”
She added, “This is where we take this charge of the Ministry very seriously. And we are putting the public on notice that please if you get wind of any free medical outreach, ask the right questions. Do they have permission from the Ministry of Health to conduct such outreaches?
On the sealed facilities, she said the two hospitals engaged unqualified personnel to perform surgical services. At the same time, the Spa carried out body part enlargement services without the requisite training and qualification.
She stated, “Now for the two hospitals, they have been run by practitioners. They are indeed Doctors but in several cases, we have identified that even the subsequent surgical training required to carry out surgical procedures is lacking.
“For most of the surgical procedures they are using unqualified personnel to deliver surgical services. Now those are recipes for disaster. And so for everyone who works in such facilities, their lives are at risk.”
On why the Spar was sealed, she said, ” The Proprietor is an Engineer with a so-called aesthetic certification that is neither recognised nor can be identified but advertising and promoting via social media and enticing an unsuspecting public to their facility.
“A place can portray itself as providing body enhancement services but there is a more sinister motive behind it. That is why we will not say that it is purely for the financial gain of whatever body enhancement services they are providing.
“For as long as its doors are open under a false premise, meaning it is not qualified, trained or qualified to provide such services.”
“At even though their facilities have been sealed, further steps are being taken by the committee to ensure that they face the full wrath of the law because they are jeopardizing the lives of people in Rivers State where they establish these facilities providing such services.”
In his remarks, the State Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Diamond Tamunokuro, said the body would not shield any member engaging in unprofessional practice.
Tamunokuro stated, “Let me say this very clearly, the NMA will never protect any of our members that is involved in quackery.
“We have our internal mechanisms of handling such issues. So when they detect anyone involved in that we send that person to our disciplinary committee.
“We need to find out if that person is a Doctor in the first place. If that person is not a doctor, straight we send that person to the security agencies. “
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