The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, HeFRA, has closed down four health facilities in the Ashanti region for operating without license. This came to light when the agency embarked on an inspection of health facilities to ensure they are operating with the required documents.
The facilities are Lake Road Clinic at Atonsu, Krispat Hearing Centre at Bomso, De -Castro Home Care, Aboabo and Echoscan Diagnostics Centre at Old Tafo.
The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, HeFRA, was established in 2011 under Act 829. Among its core mandate is to register all health facilities in the country, inspect health facilities per services they render, issue license as well as revoke licenses of health facilities and periodically monitor activities of health facilities.
HeFRA regulates institutions like the CHPS compounds, polyclinics, medical centres as well as health centres. The CEO of HeFRA, Dr. Phillip Bannor, accompanied by the Chief Operations officer, Mr. Agyemang Badu and the Ashanti Regional Director of HeFRA, Rashid Inusah, during the inspection, closed down four health facilities, namely Lake Road Clinic at Atonsu, Krispat Hearing Centre at Bomso, De – Castro Home Care, Aboabo and Echoscan Diagnostics Centre at Old Tafo. At Lake Road Clinic, it was revealed that the facility performs abortions although it is not licensed to do so. Again, the environment at the facility was unhygienic.
It was further revealed that the facilities visited also lacked qualified staff to man the facilities which pose danger to patients. The CEO of HeFRA, Dr. Phillip Bannor, briefing the media during the exercise explained that a lot of the facilities had been given at least six months’ notice to get the appropriate licenses and put their affairs in order.
Dr. Bannor urged health facilities to contact HeFRA to ensure they have the necessary licenses and personnel to operate. Those who were in charge of the various health facilities at the time of the visit were handed over to the Ashanti Regional Police Command for their statements to be taken.
