Lagos State Government has shut Vedic Lifecare Hospital in Lekki for engaging unlicensed expatriates.
The facility located at Plot 6, Olabanji Olajide Street was sealed by the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA).
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Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Abiola Idowu, said the action was a result of the hospital employing unlicensed foreign doctors.
“The facility was shut down for engaging three foreign doctors and a nurse with unverified certificates and without licenses from any professional body”, Idowu said.
Idowu, however, stated that the closure of the hospital does not affect the in-patients already admitted, stressing that the agency is aware that some facilities are engaging Foreign-Based Transient Medical Doctors who come into the State, stay for a period of time to provide medical care to patients and perform medical procedures before returning to their respective countries.
Also speaking, the Chairman, HEFAMAA Governing Board, Dr. Yemisi Solanke-Koya, noted that the practice raises consequential concerns regarding the regulatory oversight of healthcare in the State.
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The concerns, according to her, focus on whether the facilities where the FBTMDs provide medical care are registered with and meet the standards required by HEFAMAA; whether the FBTMDs themselves possess the requisite credentials and experience required to practice the designated specialities they travel to the State for and whether the provisions made for the realm of continuity of care of the patients when the FBTMDs leave the State meet the standard of care.
The Chairman warned that hospitals in Lagos should desist from using foreigners whose certificates and licenses have not been verified by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
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