The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) has commenced legal action against four health facilities operating without license.
This was after the Agency closed down the medical facilities in a joint operation with the Police. In an interview with GBC NEWS, Registrar for HeFRA, Dr. Philip Bannor cautioned operators of health facilities to ensure they have proper documentation else face legal action.
“We lodged a complaint against the proprietors of these facilities to the police and we are at the investigation stage.”
Responding to the issue of other health facilities operating without license, Dr. Banor said, “We know there are quite a few (unlicensed medical facilities) out there but we like to give them the chance to comply and it’s after giving the chance that we take action on them like we have done with these four. This is the first time we are doing this but there will be many more coming.”
There are currently about 30,000 healthcare facilities operating in the country. Dr. Bannor advised the public on how they can determine which of these facilities have license to operate before patronising their services.
“You can visit hefra.gov.gh to see the list of licensed facilities and we update this list on a monthly basis. One of the requirements is for the health facilities to display all the licenses that they have to operate including that of HeFRA in the reception and other areas within the premises. As a potential customer of any health facility, you can politely request for the license of such a facility when suspicions arise.”
On Friday, January 29, 2021, the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, HeFRA closed down the infamous Obengfo Hospital at Weija and caused the arrest of its CEO, Dr. Dominic Obeng- Andoh, also known as Dr Obengfo for refusing to comply with instructions to vacate the hospital premises for the facility to be closed down.
The other facilities closed down on the day are Susan Clinic at Latebiorkorshie, Grace Diagnostic Center at Tantra hill and China Recovery clinic at Achimota.
STORY BY: NATHANIEL NARTEY.
