Ekiti shuts five private hospitals

Ekiti State Ministry of Health has shut five private hospitals in the state for not complying with government's operational guidelines. The affected hospitals are Devine Citadel Hospital, Ado-Ekiti; Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Maternity and Hospital, Emure Ekiti; Emmanuel Medical Clinic, Emure Ekiti; Lexical Clinic, Ise Ekiti and JOA Medical Centre, Ado-Ekiti. According to a statement from the Ministry of Information on Thursday, the clinics were sealed for offences including operating in an unhygienic environment, using unqualified and inadequate personnel as well as non-registration of their health facilities and failure to renew their operational licenses. Speaking in Ado Ekiti on the development, the Director Hospital Services and Training, Dr. Kola Adu, who led the Ministry's monitoring team stressed that any hospital found wanting would be made to face the wrath of the law. He cautioned patients against patronising unlicensed private clinics, adding that the ministry commenced an aggressive monitoring and inspection of all private health institutions to maintain a reasonable standard in the health care sector to further reduce mortality and morbidity rate in the state. Adu also charged other private health facilities in the state to properly register and renew their operational licenses, saying that the state Government would not hesitate to invoke the full weight of the law on erring proprietors. He added that the proprietors of the sealed hospitals had been directed to report to the ministry, stressing that anyone that failed to comply would be further sanctioned.