Kaduna to Put an End to Illegal Schools of Health

Dr Amina Mohammed Baloni, the Commissioner of Health of Kaduna State, has stated that there are plans on the ground to fish out unequipped and unregistered private schools of health in the state. According to Vanguard,  the State Government will also provide more ambulances at their Primary Health Care facilities, PHCs.

Dr Baloni also stated that they would revive their partnership with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to enable the transportation of emergency patients to facilities across the state. She made this statement during the one-day interactive forum. The forum was organized by the Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM). It was organized in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and supported by Save the Children International, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), and other development partners. The forum’s theme was ‘Improving Health Care Delivery Through Basic Health Care Provision Fund. Implementation’.

According to Dr Baloni, the unavailability of ambulances in the PHCs was not the only hindrance regarding the transportation of emergency patients to health centres. She mentioned that the incapacity to convey many patients who need health care to the hospital at the same time. She further called on members and community leaders to volunteer to take patients to receive medical care whenever the need arises. She also stated that the State Government would tackle the issue of unequipped and unregistered private schools of health in the state.

“We are reviewing our existing laws and working with all the authorities like local governments, education, professional bodies, tax authorities for us to know if actually those operating private schools of health are even qualified and meet the criteria.”

“We are having series of meetings with the concerned authorities and professional bodies to check the list of people they accredited and then to cross-check with those that have registered with us”.

“We have closed down some of the schools some time ago because they did not meet the criteria, you can’t run a school and later come to say you want to register, you must seek and meet the criteria before opening the school,” she said.

Last week, Kano State also clamped down on illegal medical centres in the state. Vanguard reports that the Kano State Government shut down about 1,581 premises that were being used as hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, and patent medical shops. The shutdown occurred in about 20 Local Government Areas of the state. The purpose of the shutdown was the State Government’s efforts in tackling the issue of quack doctors, pharmacists, and others who were rendering illegal health services across the state.

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