Ogun Shuts Medical Facilities, Arrests Half-Dozen

Ten unauthorized medical institutions in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area have been sealed by the Ogun State Government.

Dr. Tomi Coker, the Commissioner for Health, had brought a medical team to the local government area that included members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Ministry’s Hospital Services Department, and other personnel.

The team’s goal was to examine Ado-Odo/Ota’s private hospitals and other medical facilities. Six people were allegedly detained and turned over to the police for practicing quack medicine there. Coker claims that the operation was prompted by information regarding the infiltration of quacks from Lagos State into Ado-Odo/Ota.

According to Goke Gbadamosi, the Press Officer, Ogun State Ministry of Health, quoted Coker as saying that “some of the facilities we visited were opened by doctors and nurses who don’t oversee them”.

The Commissioner disclosed that the team visited diagnostic centres, laboratories and alternative medicine centres “operating outside their scope by administering intravenous drugs and IV fluids among other things”.

“We have apprehended them and handed them over to the police for prosecution,” she said.

Coker stressed that the Governor Dapo Abiodun government would no longer tolerate the activities of quacks, particularly those in border areas between Lagos and Ogun.

She added that the inspection of facilities would continue across the state.

“We are aware of the proliferation of quacks here and have declared zero tolerance for them,” she declared.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in Ogun State, Dr. Azim Ashimi, condemned the influx of quacks in the state, describing it as disheartening, adding that it had led to needless loss of innocent lives.

Ashimi said his association had resolved to deal with quacks in the health sector, while also collaborating with the state government to curb the practice.