By Awwal Umar Kontagora The Niger State Private Health Facilities Agency (NiSPHFA) has sealed nine health facilities in Paikoro ...
By Awwal Umar Kontagora
The Niger State Private Health Facilities Agency (NiSPHFA) has sealed nine health facilities in Paikoro Local Government Area over regulatory violations considered capable of compromising patient safety and the quality of healthcare delivery. The affected facilities include two satellite campuses of a health training institution operating without the minimum infrastructure required for such establishments.
The closures followed a two-day inspection and enforcement operation across Kafin-Koro, Kwakuti, Chimbi and Farin Doki communities, during which the Agency inspected 28 facilities comprising primary healthcare centres, diagnostic centres, medical laboratories and health training institutions.
The exercise formed part of the Agency's ongoing efforts to protect residents from unsafe healthcare practices and ensure compliance with established regulatory standards.
Among the major violations identified by the inspection team were poor environmental sanitation, improper medical waste management, inadequate infection prevention and control measures, absence of valid professional licences, engagement of unqualified personnel in critical healthcare duties and failure to register with the Agency.
NiSPHFA noted that these lapses could expose unsuspecting patients and healthcare workers to infections, medical complications and other preventable health risks.
Of particular concern was the discovery of two satellite campuses operating in Kafin-Koro and Farin Doki without proper identification and the basic infrastructure required of health training institutions.
Both campuses were sealed for lacking functional clinics, demonstration rooms, laboratories and permanent structures of their own, having reportedly operated from shared buildings within secondary school premises.
The Agency stressed that allowing health training institutions to operate without essential infrastructure could undermine the quality of healthcare education and produce inadequately trained personnel who may eventually be entrusted with patients' lives.
It reiterated that institutions offering health-related training must provide appropriate facilities for both theoretical instruction and practical learning before establishing satellite campuses.
NiSPHFA further recalled its earlier directive granting health training institutions operating without permanent structures a six-month window to secure suitable premises, warning that failure to comply could result in the withdrawal of their operating licences.
The Agency also disclosed that investigations were ongoing to establish the identities of the institution affiliated with the two campuses, after which further regulatory measures would be determined.
Beyond the closures, the inspection team advised facility owners to improve environmental sanitation, clear overgrown vegetation around their premises to prevent reptiles and harmful insects, engage only qualified and licensed professionals, and ensure proper medical waste disposal and infection prevention and control.
Although most of the facilities inspected had registered with the Agency, several were found to have other operational deficiencies and were directed to address them ahead of subsequent follow-up inspections.
The Agency reaffirmed its determination to make Niger State inhospitable to quackery, stressing that no healthcare provider or training institution would be allowed to compromise public safety through substandard operations.
It assured residents of Niger State that enforcement activities would continue across the state's 25 local government areas, emphasising that the protection of human lives must always take precedence over commercial interests.
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