C-River Govt Goes After Quacks, Shuts Errant Medical Facilities
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Efforts to rid Cross River State of quacks are yielding positive results with the State government arresting culprits and sealing off medical facilities allegedly engaging in unwholesome practices across the state.
Already, six persons, including a Benue state-born medical practitioner, Dr. Austin Adugba, have been arrested by the Nigeria Police in collaboration with the Cross River State TaskForce on Quackery and Related Violations in the Healthcare Delivery System.
Chairman of the State TaskForce, Dr David Ushie, who made the disclosure in Calabar the State capital, said topping the list of errant facilities is Dr Adugba’s owned Life First Medical Centre located in Ogoja Local Government Area of the state.
Addressing journalists at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre, Dr Ushie said the unwholesome medical practices conducted in the Medical facility go against all laid down rules governing healthcare delivery services in the state and beyond, noting the suspect Dr Adugba, conspired to carry out the fake surgeries on nine persons out of the 10 patients that were found in the facilities visited by the team.
Dr Ushie, who also doubles as the Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Health Matters, said what obtains at the Medical Post is purely aimed at swindling unsuspecting members of the public hoodwinked into believing that they are getting affordable and cheap medical attention for their various ailments.
He also stated that the Centre’s proprietor has allegedly been involved in recruiting quacks and mobilizing them to carry out all sorts of illicit activities In rural communities, defrauding ignorant members of such localities and endangering lives.
The Governor’s aide alerted members of the public to be wary of a situation where a specialist gynecologist doubles as a surgeon just to front himself as a concerned medical caregiver when in actual essence his intentions are purely for monetary gains.
He further explained that the TaskForce’s attention was drawn to a medical outreach at Aladim community in Ogoja LGA and on getting there they were shocked at what confronted them in the name of providing affordable medicare to persons with various forms of ailments, ranging from the operation of hernia to dental extraction by unqualified and self-acclaimed medical experts.
According to Dr Ushie, a Specialist Consultant with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), the TaskForce swung into action immediately, arresting some of the perpetrators while others, including the proprietor of Life First Medical Centre, took to their heels.
While commending the security agencies for tracking down those who escaped as they are currently in detention awaiting prosecution by relevant authorities, Dr Ushie assured the public that given such startling discovery, the TaskForce is also set to clamp down on illegal drug vendors who parade the streets daily and in public transports to advertise wonder drugs.
He said particularly worrisome are dangerous claims by these criminally-minded vendors that a particular drug possesses the potency of curing up to thirty different forms of ailments without laboratory tests.
The TaskForce Chairman said the worst still is the fact that the vendors keep these so-called wonder drugs in clearly unsuitable storage facilities, even when from the face value it can be ascertained that they are exposed to an abnormal temperature which can easily affect their potency.
Also, Ushie said before the recent incident, 22 cases were responded to by the TaskForce, and arrests were made by the Police while 13 healthcare facilities were closed down on account of various violations of the regulatory medical practitioners’ laws.
