Ogun uncovers 30 unlicensed nurses on pay roll

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NIGERIA: NO fewer than 30 unlicensed nurses have been discovered to be collecting monthly salaries from the purse of the Ogun State government.

The “illegal” nurses were discovered on the pay roll of the government via the on-going verification exercise for nurses by the State Hospitals Management Board.

The Director of Nursing, Patience Odutayo, who made this known on Wednesday, explained that some of the unlicensed nurses have been practicing as peri-operative workers in the theatre without valid license to do so.

Odutayo stated that for anyone to be a qualified nurse the person must have attended a qualified school, like the School of Nursing and Midwifery and other health related schools, and thereafter certified by the medical institution as qualified to practice.

According to her, the Nursing Department of the hospital board decided to conduct the exercise in order to ascertain

the genuineness of the certificates and licenses of serving nurses in the state.

Odutayo also said that the measure was to fish out those who have reached the bar of service but refused to renew their licenses. ‎

It would be recalled that the government recently discovered illegal mortuary operating in the states, just as no fewer than 12 private hospitals have been shut for failing to revalidate their operating licenses.

The illegal hospitals and mortuary were discovered to be operating in some parts of the state, which include Ijebu-Ode and Ago-Iwoye areas in Ijebu North Local Government.

The monitoring team from the department of Hospital Services that moved round the state to ascertain the level of compliance to the registration of private health operators ordered the closure.

The leader of team, Dr. Nafiu Aigoro, who is also the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, said that the government was poised to ensure that no quacks operate in the state.

Aigoro, who stated that the activities of the illegal operators have done more harm than good, maintained that the closure became necessary following the non-compliance of the affected hospitals to the re-validation cum registration exercise recently carried out by government for all private health facilities.

The Permanent Secretary stressed that so many lives have been lost due to the illegal operation of quack doctors and nurses in the state.

According to him, with the new strategy being adopted by the Ministry of Health, the days of quacks in the health sector were numbered and they would soon be out of activities.

Aigoro, who ordered the closure of Mayflower Clinic, Oga Yem Merciful Care and Glorious King’s Eye Clinic in Ijebu Ode Local Government, directed the owners to report in the Ministry with all papers to show the legitimacy of their approval and operations.

He maintained that the government would no longer allow quacks, who disguised as professional medical practitioners, to endanger the lives of the people and swindle them.

According to him, the decision to shut the illegal health facilities was in line with the provisions of the Private Hospitals and other Health Establishments Registration Edict of 1988 the government.

In a similar development, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, said that the hospitals were shut for not complying with the revalidation of licenses to operate.

Ipaye, who was accompanied by the Transition Chairman, Ijebu North Local Government, Mr. Mojeed Ekelojumati, during the monitoring team, maintained that all the privately owned health facilities in the state had been informed since December last year to register accordingly.

The Commissioner, who ordered the immediate evacuation of the illegal mortuary, said that the government would use all power at its disposal to clamp down on doctors and nurses operating illegally in the state.

“Some of the hospitals sealed were found operating in unconducive environment, unapproved building and illegal morgue,” Ipaye said.

He stressed that the government would ensure that the best practises in health sector are followed strictly.

Ipaye said that the health of the people of the state remained paramount to the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

However, Ekelojumati commended the government on the closure, saying it was a right step in the right direction.

While assuring government of his administration’s support to complement government’s effort, Ekelojumati said that quackery should not be encouraged.

He stated that the change era in all sectors has come to stay in the state.