Lagos Engages Seven Franchise Companies for Standard Compliance Monitoring Of Health Facilities
Lagos State Government has rejigged and expanded the monitoring activities of its Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) by engaging the services of seven franchise companies to assist the agency in rapidly increasing the monitoring activities of health facilities across the State and improve the quality of healthcare delivered to citizens.
Speaking today at news briefing after meeting with representative of the franchise companies at the State Secretariat in Alausa-Ikeja, the State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi explained that the desire to prevent quackery in all forms informed the decision of the State Government to engage reputable organizations in the private sector for standard compliance in health service provision in pursuant of the health sector law.
He said: “The private sector collaboration franchise model will expand HEFAMAA’s reach and effectiveness and will be implemented in two phases. The first phase; the pilot phase, is designed to test the model among a limited number of partners and health facilities, and in the second phase, the model will be fully executed, and the lessons learned in the pilot phase will be used to improve the model and scale it up”.
The Commissioner explained that the seven engaged private organizations were carefully selected out of a total of 21 organizations that applied in conformity with the State’s procurement process adding that the franchise companies will be responsible for monitoring both the public and private health facilities in the Local Governments assigned to each of them under the oversight of HEFAMAA and according to its protocol.
“The engaged private organizations are; SPC Patterns Consulting, Realms Health Care Consulting Services, IFS Healthcare, McOlivia Consulting Limited, AOI Training and Consulting Limited, Vhelar Consulting Limited and E-clat Health Care Limited”, Abayomi said.
The Commissioner further explained that a three day comprehensive training programme was organized by HEFAMAA for the engaged franchise companies from Wednesday 14th to Friday 16th, December 2022 to improve their capacity in the task ahead.
Abayomi added that the training programme was followed by joint assessment monitoring visits to health facilities on the 20th and 21st of December 2022 noting that HEFAMAA officers will continue to work with the private organizations to ensure the seamless collaboration of the monitoring activities State wide.
“In addition, I must emphasize that as part of the Agency’s oversight of the franchise companies, they are required to submit their assessment reports of health facilities to HEFAMAA daily. The reports will be reviewed by the Agency for intervention as warranted”, he said.
While noting that no facility should be involved in healthcare delivery in Lagos State without accreditation by HEFAMAA, the Commissioner stated that all medical and allied medical staff cadres in health facilities should have appropriate registration with relevant regulatory bodies.
“It is important to also advise Traditional Medicine Practitioners, Faith-based healers, and operators of pharmaceutical outlets not to go beyond their approved scopes of service as doing so will attract appropriate sanctions by HEFAMAA”, the Commissioner stated.
Abayomi assured that HEFAMAA will continue to carry out the inspection of new facilities for registration purposes and perform due diligence to identify facilities that are not accredited adding that the agency will also continue assessment of health facilities for empanelment into the Health Insurance Scheme in collaboration with the Lagos State Health Insurance Management Agency (LASHMA) and involved with investigations of petitions and complaints from the public.
“At this juncture, I want to assure private health facilities that this initiative will not result in witch-hunting, nor will it lead to extortion of money from them. The goal is to ensure that quality health care services are delivered in the State. I encourage Hospitals and other categories of health facilities to access the Health Facility Inspection Tool on the HEFAMAA website (hefamaa.lagosstate.gov.ng), do the self-assessment for their facilities prior to our visitation and upgrade their operations in the sections where they may score low marks”, he stated.
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman HEFAMAA, Dr. (Mrs) Yemisi Sholanke-Koya said there have been sporadic instances of quackery, malpractice and substandard service delivery in the health sector that the Lagos State Government through HEFAMAA have swiftly respond to.
She explained this is what prompted the adoption of a zero tolerance posture by the Governor Sanwo-Olu led administration to address the issues by making concerted efforts to build up the regulatory capacity of HEFAMAA.
“HEFAMAA is a regulatory Agency established by the Lagos State Government to improve the quality and efficiency of health care services delivered in the State. The Agency is responsible by law for identifying all healthcare delivery establishments and setting minimum standards for the operation of all categories of health facilities in the State”, Sholanke-Koya said.
The Chairman said HEFAMAA set a minimum standard by inspecting, accrediting, monitoring and licensing of health facilities towards improving health services delivered in the State. She added the Agency is empowered to ensure strict compliance with the set standards by identifying noncompliance and issuing such notices for corrective measures as well as suspension or revocation of the Certificates of Registration of defaulting health facilities.
“As of January 2023, there are 3,794 known registered health facilities in Lagos State and HEFAMAA anticipates registering more as we monitor the State for facilities that deliver healthcare services. By law, the Agency is required to evaluate the performance of every facility through monitoring visits at least twice a year”, She stated.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of HEFAMAA, Dr. Abiola Idowu commended the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for supporting and championing outsourcing initiative, stressing that initiative is not only laudable but will improve the quality of healthcare delivery to the residents of Lagos State.
“May I enjoin members of the public to help publicize this initiative and notify HEFAMAA of illegal operations at health facilities in the State, substandard care, or unprofessional conduct.”
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